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HISTORY AND CIVICS 
OF OKLAHOMA 



BY 



L: J: ABBOTT, LL.B, M.A. 

PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY, CENTRAL STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 
EDMOND, OKLAHOMA 



GINN AND COMPANY 

BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON 






Copyright, 1910 
By L. J. ABBOTT 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



GINN AND COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. 



eCU265302 



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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



PREFACE 

While Oklahoma is the youngest of the states, yet it had 
a considerable population almost a generation earlier than any 
of the states west of those that border the Mississippi, Texas 
alone excepted. Here we find much the best example of a 
prolonged effort of the aborigines of the United States to de- 
velop their own civilization in their own way. The history of 
this effort should be of interest to every student of American 
institutions. How much of this civilization was due to white 
influence and how much can be credited to Indian initiative 
must be left to the judgment of the reader. 

One of the chief benefits of historical study is the testing 
of authorities. No field offers a better opportunity for this than 
Oklahoma history. Almost all data relating to the Indian na- 
tions is so interwoven with myth and fiction that it is difficult, 
indeed, to separate authoritative facts from endless legends and 
weird tales of Indian life. So while this little book is pre- 
sented in concise, and we trust simple, form, yet we have 
zealously sought to use in its preparation no source that will 
not bear most careful scrutiny. We have not hesitated, where 
possible, to incorporate the exact text of the source in order 
that the student will thus be brought in closer touch with the 
men and events that we seek to picture. 

L. J. ABBOTT 

Edmond, Oklahoma 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. Discovery of Oklahoma . i 

II. The French in Oklahoma 8 

III. Exploration of the Arkansas 13 

IV. Central and Southern Oklahoma Explored . . 22 
V. Why Indians were First moved to Oklahoma . 29 

VI. Creeks and Cherokees compelled to leave 

Georgia 38 

VII. Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida follow Georgia's 

Example 52 

VIII. Indian Governments 60 

IX. Progress of the Civilized Tribes 73 

X. Early Military History of Oklahoma .... 88 

XI. First Year of the Civil War 94 

XII. The Battle of Pea Ridge and its Results . .105 

XIII. From 1863 to the Close of the War . . . .116 

XIV. Reconstruction and Reorganization 126 

XV. Resistance of Plains Indians 140 

XVI. Oklahoma Openings 160 

XVII. Territorial Government .178 

XVIII. Statehood 196 

APPENDIX A. First State Officers 207 

APPENDIX B. Territorial Governors, Delegates IN Con- 
gress, Cherokee Governors (Principal Chiefs) 208 

APPENDIX C. General Census Returns 209 

INDEX 211 

vii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Grass Tepee of the Wichita Indians 4 

CoRONADo's Signature 6 

Cherokee Capitol, Tahlequah 62 

Creek Capitol, Okmulgee 64 

Chickasaw Capitol, Tishomingo .70 

Bloomfield Academy 78 

Sequoyah (George Guess) 80 

Geronimo 151 

Reverend Allen Wright 161 

Territorial Governors 183 

Honorable Dennis T. Flynn .189 

City Hall, Guthrie 198 

Honorable William H. Murray 199 

Governor Charles N. Haskell 200 

Temporary State House, Guthrie 202 

Senators Owen and Gore 203 



LIST OF MAPS 

Oklahoma in i 910 viii 

Coronado's Route, i 540-1541 3 

Eastern Reservations of the Five Civilized Tribes . . 31 

Oklahoma when a Portion of Arkansas Territory . . 35 

Indian Territory Previous to Civil War ...... 74 

Indian Territory in 1880 137 

Oklahoma at the Time the Territory was Organized . 179 

Oklahoma in 1893 184 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

CHAPTER I 

DISCOVERY OF OKLAHOMA 

1. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. In the early summer 
of the year 1541 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado crossed 
the entire length of what is now the state of Oklahoma. 
Thus it will be seen that Oklahoma was explored less than 
a half century after the landing of Columbus, and seventy- 
nine years before the Pilgrim F'athers saw Plymouth Rock. 

2. The ** Seven Cities of Cibola/* Early in the year 1540 
Coronado assembled an army at Culiacan on the Gulf of 
California (see map, p. 3), consisting of three hundred 
Spaniards and eight hundred Mexican Indians. He was 
bent on the conquest of the famous "seven cities of Cibola," 
rumors of which were frequent in New Spain. A priest 
named Marcos de Nizza accompanied him as guide. This 
priest had previously been sent to verify the story of Cabeza 
de Vaca.i He claimed to have seen these famous cities, and 

1 De Vaca had gone to Florida with Narvaez in 152S. He and three 
companions were the only ones who escaped the perils that overtook that 
expedition. After wandering nine years on the plains of Texas, they finally 
made their way to the Spanish settlements in Mexico. De Vaca reported 
having seen great cities toward the north (see Fourteenth Ethnology 
Report, Washington, 1893). Translations are here given of most of the 
sources that have to do with Coronado's expedition. For five cents any 
one can obtain from the directors of the Old South Work, Boston, a 
portion of De Vaca's Relacion, Leaflet No. 39. Leaflet No. 20 is one of 
Coronado's letters to Mendoza, the governor of Mexico. Coronado's letter 
to Charles V can be had for ten cents from Parker P. Simmons, New York. 
It is American History Leaflet No. 13. 



2 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

it was expected that he could lead the way directly to them. 
Marcos did not remain with the expedition long, however, 
for as they proceeded and it became evident that the facts 
were contrary to his report, the soldiers threatened to kill him. 
Coronado tells us in his letter to Mendoza that '' it grieved 
the whole company that a thing so highly commended, and 
whereof the Father (Marcos) had made so great brags, should 
be found so contrary, and it made them suspect that all the 
rest would fall out in like sort." ^ This is what did eventually 
happen. The famous cities of Cibola proved to be miserable 
New Mexican pueblos, probably the Zuni villages of to-day. 
But Coronado did not immediately relax his efforts to find 
other cities. He sent out expeditions in all directions. The 
Grand Canyon of the Colorado was visited ; a naval expedi- 
tion that accompanied him discovered the mouth of the 
Colorado River ; and one of his captains went east to the 
Rio Grande. 

3. Discovery of Oklahoma. The report from the River 
Tiguex (Rio Grande) seemed so encouraging that Coronado 
moved his entire army to the little villages scattered along 
this stream. Irrigation was here practiced to a considerable 
extent, and the Indians of this region were more nearly 
civilized than any previously met north of Mexico. There 
were also villages east of the Rio Grande, on the Pacos River, 
which were likewise subdued. The Indians resented the long 
stay and the rough treatment of the Spaniards, with the re- 
sult that there was some hard fighting in which both natives 
and Spaniards received injuries. Finally, in April, 1541, 
Coronado was induced to proceed still further eastward in 

1 Coronado's letter to Mendoza, Old South Leaflet No. 20, p. 2. This 
letter is a copy of the original translation by Richard Hakluyt. 



DISCOVERY OF OKLAHOMA 



the hope of finding the rich cities his imagination had so long 
pictured. "' So he started with the whole army and proceeded 
a hundred and fifty leagues " ^ toward the southeast from 
the village of Cicuique on the Pacos River. This must cer- 
tainly have taken the Spaniards into northern Texas, probably 




Coronado 1541 
Coronado* s Ca 
Pike 1806 ... 
Wilk 
Long 1320.. 
Uarcy 1852. 



Coronado's Route, 1 540-1 541, and Routes of Others who explored 
Oklahoma 

somewhere in the vicinity of the present city of Fort Worth, 
because a journey four hundred and fifty miles (one hundred 
and fifty leagues) from the settlement on the Pacos to the 
southeast could not but lead one into this vicinity. Moreover, 
Coronado at this time must have been somewhere in Texas, 
because the army visited a village where Cabeza de Vaca and 
Dorantes had stopped when they were wandering in this 

1 American History Leaflet No. 13, p. 8. 



4 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

region ; ^ and from De Vaca's account we are reasonably 
certain that the point where the hnes of travel of these two 
explorers crossed was in north-central Texas. 

4. Quivira. On account of lack of food and the exhausted 
condition of both men and horses, Coronado ordered their 
return to the Rio Grande ; but he himself, with thirty of the 
best equipped men, struck out due north ^ in search of a 




Grass Tepee of the Wichita Indians (Caddo County), similar to those 
described by Coronado in his Letter to the Emperor Charles V 

province called Quivira, of which he had been told by the 
Indians. '' And with only the thirty horsemen whom I took 
for my escort," Coronado wrote in a letter to the emperor 

1 Winship, George Park, The Journey of Coronado (New York, 1904), 
p. 68. Here is given Castarieda's report. He was historian of the expedi- 
tion, and his account is much the most elaborate that we have. 

2 " By the needle " is how it is expressed in the original, American His- 
tory Leaflet No. 13, p. 8. 



DISCOVERY OF OKLAHOMA 5 

Charles V/ "I traveled for forty-two days after I left the 
force, living all this while solely on the flesh of the bulls and 
cows which we killed." Coronado complained that in Quivira, 
which evidently was somewhere in central Kansas, the houses 
were not of stone, as the guide had led him to believe, but 
of straw. This corresponds with present customs, since straw 
houses are even now made by the Wichita Indians in Okla- 
homa. Coronado described the Plains Indians accurately, 
explaining how they used tents made of skins of the cows 
(buffaloes), and how they employed dogs as beasts of burden 
to drag their tent poles.^ He considered the land of Quivira, 
which is in the vicinity of the Blue and Kansas rivers, the 
best he had '' ever seen for producing all the products of 
Spain, for besides the land itself being very fat and black 
and being very well watered by the rivulets and springs and 
rivers, I have found prunes like those of Spain, and nuts 
and very good sweet grapes and mulberries . . . and what I 
am sure of is that there is not any gold nor any other metal 
in all this country, and the other things of which they had 
told me are nothing but little villages and in many of these 
they do not plant anything and do not have any houses except 
of skins and sticks, and they wander about with the cows."'^ 
5. Result of the Expedition. Coronado returned to Tiguex 
(that is, the Rio Grande) by a much shorter route, as may 
be seen by consulting the map (p. 3). The letter which he 
wrote to the emperor on October 20, 1 541, is most pathetic, 
for no one knew better than he that he would be blamed for 
not finding gold and rich cities where none were to be found. 

1 American History Leaflet No. 13, p. 13. 

2 Horses were not known in America until the Spanish brought them. 

3 American History Leaflet No. 13, p. 14. 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 




<-9 



According to the one criterion of success at court, he had 
failed. And all Coronado's endurance in this, the greatest 
land journey ever made by a Spanish explorer, went for 
nothing because he had failed to uncover new supplies of 
the yellow metal. But this much Coronado's expedition did 
accomplish. It proved to the Spanish that the vast plain of 
central North America was merely an agricultural region, 
uninhabited save by a few wandering tribes of Indians. It 

did not appeal to 
the Spanish, who 
chiefly sought re- 
gions where large 
^ ^ quantities of silver 

f / ^y^ I / and gold were to 

CC^^^I^ ty^nCX^ IC^ be found. Coronado 

did his work so 
thoroughly that no 
other Spaniard ever 
felt called, upon to 
venture into these 
vast solitudes. As General Simpson has well said of it, '' For 
extent of distance travelled, duration in time, and the multi- 
plicity of its cooperating expeditions, it equalled, if it did 
not exceed, any land expedition that has been undertaken in 
modern times." 

6. The *' Panhandle *' becomes Spanish Territory. How- 
ever, in one particular the expedition did have a more lasting 
effect. The '" Panhandle " of Oklahoma became Spanish ter- 
ritory, and remained such up to the time of the Mexican 
revolution (1821). When Coronado finally gave up in de- 
spair and withdrew his army from the Rio Grande, priests 



Francisco Vasquez de Coronado's Signature 
from a Tracing 



DISCOVERY OF OKLAHOMA 7 

remained, both on the Pacos and Rio Grande, to convert the 
natives. Some of these were killed, but others came to join 
those who escaped harm, and from that time the Spaniards 
held this country, and with it the " Panhandle " of Oklahoma. 
It is only just to note that the Spanish, while probably moved 
to make this expedition chiefly for the sake of booty and 
gold, yet showed themselves to be intensely religious. There 
were always priests to remain and Christianize a region 
which the Spanish warriors had conquered. 



CHAPTER II 

THE FRENCH IN OKLAHOMA 

7. The French in Canada. The Spanish, as we have seen, 
came into Oklahoma by an almost direct route from the 
nearest white settlement in Mexico. The French reached 
Oklahoma by means of the far distant and apparently im- 
possible route of the St. Lawrence River and the Great 
Lakes. However, a glance at a map of North America will 
convince one that when the French reached the mouth of 
the St. Lawrence, they had stumbled upon the most accessi- 
ble and best roadway into the heart of North America. As 
early as 1 503 French fishermen began to frequent the banks 
of Newfoundland ; Verrazano was in the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence in 1524, and ten years later Cartier ascended the river 
as far as Montreal. 

8. The Mississippi Valley. The French were most ener- 
getic explorers. By 1673 Father Marquette had crossed over 
from the Great Lakes to the Wisconsin River, and had ex- 
plored the upper reaches of the " Father of Waters." Seven 
years later La Salle went down the Mississippi to its mouth, 
and French dominion in the great river valley began to be 
established. 

9. New Orleans Founded. The discovery of the mouth of 
the Mississippi soon brought the French into the Gulf of 
Mexico. The swamps and marshes at the river's mouth being 
unsuited for settlement, Iberville, a famous French Canadian, 
planted the first French Gulf colony at Biloxi in 1702. Later 



THE FRENCH IN OKLAHOMA 9 

this colony moved up Mobile Bay to the present site of Mobile. 
But it was not until Bienville, a brother of Iberville, had 
founded New Orleans, in 1717, that French dominion on the 
lower Mississippi seemed likely to become permanent. This 
city, admirably located at the most available point where river 
and ocean trade could meet, was easily the key to the situation. 

10. French Trappers in Oklahoma. The French had a 
marvelous faculty for getting on with the Indians. If we ex- 
cept the Iroquois, we can say that they had practically no 
Indian enemies. This security permitted them to spread out, 
and, unlike the English, they were everywhere and nowhere 
in particular. In their birch-bark canoes they invaded almost 
every tributary of the Mississippi searching for furs. Being on 
good terms with the Indians, they needed no strong forts, and 
they were not compelled to wait for their numbers to increase 
before advancing into the continent. Consequently they have 
left us few evidences of their transitory occupation of the re- 
gion ; but we have strong proof that they were in Oklahoma 
as early as the founding of New Orleans, and possibly earlier. 

11. Proof that the French came into Oklahoma. Since 
the French used the rivers and creeks as their highways, they 
would naturally give them names. This they did, for in eastern 
Oklahoma we to-day find many streams bearing French names. ^ 

1 Let us enumerate a few of these which it is hardly possible could have 
been named by one not French. They are taken from a map of 1831 which 
shows Oklahoma as a part of Arkansas Territory. Arkansas (Arc, Kans) : 
Arc, French for " bow " or "bend"; Aaus, the tribe of Indians (Kaw or 
Kansas) that dwelt in this vicinity. Verdigris River. Grande: French for 
"large." Illinois: plains. Sallisaw (French, salaisou, "salt meat"): where 
some Frenchmen once stopped to salt some buffalo meat (see Nuttall, 
p. 231). Cavaniol Creek and Mountains. Fourche Melane Creek. Sans Bois 
Creek and Mountains. Ozarks (French, aiix arcs, "with bows") : Indians 
were seen here " with bows " when the French first came into the region. 
Poteau River: Yxq.x\q.\v, poteaji, "post." 



lO HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

Another evidence that the French had been famihar with 
the regions now comprised within the hmits of the present 
state of Oklahoma is that all the early American explorers of 
this section repeatedly refer to them. Moreover, Frenchmen 
and half-breed French were numerous in this region when 
Americans first came into the territory. So while there is no 
doubt that most of eastern Oklahoma was well known to many 
early French traders and hunters, they have left us almost no 
record of their sojourns in this region. 

12. The Louisiana Purchase. France had been in posses- 
sion of the Mississippi Valley hardly a half century, when 
she was forced to surrender all her American possessions ex- 
cept a few West Indian islands. England, under the brilliant 
leadership of William Pitt the Elder, completely blasted French 
colonial aspirations in America. Canada and all the region 
east of the Mississippi River were ceded to Great Britain at 
the close of the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War). 
Spain, inveigled into the war by Louis XV, was given Loui- 
siana to compensate her for the loss of Florida, which Eng- 
land had also seized. So far as Oklahoma is concerned, these 
years of Spanish rule have in no way affected the state's his- 
tory. There seems to be not one thing, other than the treaty 
itself, to show that Spain came into possession of this terri- 
tory. In 1800 it went back to France again. The overshadow- 
ing influence of Napoleon Bonaparte had by this time made 
itself felt in Spain, as elsewhere in Europe, and by the treaty 
of San Ildefonso Louisiana was ceded back to France. Napo- 
leon had visions of establishing a vast colonial empire. In 
1 80 1 he sent his brother-in-law, Leclerc, to Santo Domingo 
with thirty thousand French soldiers to reduce the negro in- 
surrection in that island and then to proceed to New Orleans, 



THE FRENCH IN OKLAHOMA II 

where Marshall Victor had already preceded him. But Napo- 
leon reckoned without his host. Toussaint L'Ouverture, leader 
of the slave revolt in the French colony of Haiti, proved more 
than a match for the trained veterans of France. What Tous- 
saint could not accomplish, fever did. Leclerc died, his regi- 
ments were decimated, and Napoleon had no army with which 
to take possession of Louisiana. 

13. Napoleon not wanted for a Neighbor. Jefferson, at 
that time President of the United States, was greatly alarmed 
when he learned that the French were about to occupy New 
Orleans. He did not want Napoleon for a neighbor. " The 
day that France takes possession of New Orleans," he wrote, 
" fixes the sentence which is to restrain her forever within her 
low-water mark. From that moment we marry ourselves to the 
British fleet and nation." ^ As if to justify this change of front 
by the old friend of France, the Spanish Litendent (governor), 
still in charge at New Orleans, on October i6, 1802, with- 
drew from the Americans the " right of deposit," by which 
shippers from the upper regions of the Mississippi could store 
goods in New Orleans until they could be "transshipped." 
Nor were the Americans to be allowed any longer to receive 
cargoes from abroad, without first paying the Spanish duty.^ 
If the country was to pass into the hands of France and the 
Mississippi to be closed, it seemed essential to Jefferson that 
we should obtain the island of New Orleans, or West Florida, 
and with it Mobile. In 1803 James Monroe was sent to France 
to secure this cession. But the day after Monroe arrived in 
Paris, Robert Livingston, the resident minister to PYance, 

1 Quoted in Hart, A. B., Formation of the Union (New York, 1907), p. 186. 
'^ It is to be observed that while France obtained Louisiana in 1800, the 
actual transfer of the colony from France to Spain never took place. 



12 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

had closed a treaty, not for the island of New Orleans, or 
West Florida, but for the whole of Louisiana. Monroe was 
at first amazed at a purchase so different from Jefferson's 
idea, but he joined with Livingston in signing the treaty that 
made Louisiana, and therefore the greater part of Oklahoma, 
a part of the United States. The reverses experienced by 
the French soldiers in Haiti had dampened the colonial ardor 
of Napoleon. He saw the difficulty in holding Louisiana, and 
since his ambition was to win a European rather than an 
American empire, he lightly offered for eighty million francs 
that which had cost him so little. 

14. Abstract of the United States* Title to Oklahoma. 
Thus runs the title to Oklahoma : to France by occupation 
in 1 71 7; France to Spain in 1763; Spain to France in 
1800; France to the United States in 1803. The title to 
the Panhandle, however, runs in a different way : to Spain 
by exploration in 1541 and settlement (at Santa Fe) soon 
after; Spain to Mexico in 1821 ; Mexico to Texas in 1836 ; 
Texas to the United States in 1845. 



CHAPTER III 
EXPLORATION OF THE ARKANSAS 

15. Early Explorations. During the French and Spanish 
occupations of Louisiana various expeditions were doubtless 
made into the region now included within the present limits 
of Oklahoma. On one of Pike's maps we find the informa- 
tion that "at the mouth of the Canadian River the Ensigns 
Armoral of France were buried in a leaden box jit the foot 
of a great oak in 1742." St. Denis and La Harp may have 
been in Oklahoma, but if they were, their stay was so brief 
that nothing of permanence was left to bear witness to it. 

16. Wilkinson explores the Arkansas. No sooner had 
Thomas Jefferson obtained possession of the vast reaches of 
Louisiana than he sent out expedition after expedition to see 
what it contained. The exploration of the Northwest by Lewis 
and Clark (1804) was, perhaps, the most famous of these ex- 
peditions, but that of Montgomery Pike was of scarcely less 
importance. Pike pushed up the Missouri to the Osage River. 
He followed this stream for a time, and then moved across 
Kansas up the Arkansas valley into Colorado, finally going 
into New Mexico, where he was taken prisoner by the 
Spanish. When Pike struck the Arkansas in central Kansas 
in the fall of 1806, his lieutenant, James Wilkinson, was in 
poor health, and he was allowed to return home by way of 
this river. Wilkinson began his trip, October 27, 1806.1 

1 Coues, Elliott, The Expedition of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (3 vols., 
New York, 1895), Vol. II' P- 547- The diary of Wilkinson is here given in full. 

13 



14 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

17. Clermont and the Osages of the Oaks. After many 
hardships Wilkinson and his companions made their way 
down the Arkansas into Oklahoma. Christmas Day, 1806, 
he must have spent at the village of the Osages on the 
Verdigris. This tribe of '' Osages of the Oaks " had seceded 
from the Grand Osages of Missouri in 1801 or 1802, and, 
according to reliable evidence, under the leadership of Cler- 
mont, '' builder of cities," at that time constituted Oklahoma's 
only permanent residents.^ Lieutenant Wilkinson also men- 
tions villages of Choctaws, Creeks, and Cherokees in the 
neighborhood of the Osage village, and notes that these 
three tribes were at war with the Osages (see sect. 98). 
Just below Webber Falls he met an Osage war party and 
received from them a man named M'Farlane, who had been 
trapping on the Poteau. But it was a week later, and not 

1 Coues, Elliott, The Expedition of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, 
Vol. II, pp. 556-557. The entry in Wilkinson's diary is as follows: "I 
arrived on the 23d inst., in a storm of hail and snow, at the winter camp 
of Cas-he-seg~ra or Big Track (or Big Foot), chief of the Osages who re- 
side on the Verdigris river. On the following day I gave him your talk and 
received his reply, which it is unnecessary to recount fully, as it was merely 
a description of his poverty and miserable situation. He however said that 
he had been informed the United States intended to erect factories (i.e. 
trading posts) on the Osage river, and that he was anxious to have one 
near his own village, and for that purpose he was willing to give the United 
States the tract of country lying between the Verdigris and Grand rivers. 
About fifty-eight or sixty miles up the Osage river is situated the Osage 
village. This band, some four or five years since, were led by the chief 
Cas-he-seg-ra (Big Foot) to the waters of the Arkansas, at the request of 
Pierre Chouteau, for the purpose of securing their trade, the exclusive 
trade of the Osage river having, at that time, been purchased from the 
Spanish governor by Manuel Lisa of St. Louis. . But though Cas-he-seg-ra 
be the nominal leader, Clermont, Builder of Towns, is the greatest warrior 
and most influential man, now more firmly attached to the interests of the 
Americans than any other chief of the nation. He is the lawful sovereign 
of the Grand Osages, but his hereditary right was usurped by Pahuska or 
White Hair (Cheveux Blancs), while Clermont was yet an infant." 



EXPLORATION OF THE ARKANSAS 15 

until Wilkinson was well into Arkansas, that he mentions 
meeting a white resident of the region. " On the evening 
of the 6th of January (1807) I reached the plantation of a 
Mr. Labomme, and was more inhospitably treated than by 
the savages themselves." ^ 

18. The Spanish interfere with Americans. The same 
year (1806) that Pike went west through Kansas, Major 
Richard Sparks was to explore Red River from its mouth 
westward ; and somewhere in the mountains he was to meet 
Pike, who expected to return with him by way of this river. 
But the Spanish learned of these proposed expeditions and 
at once intervened to stop them. One Captain Viana was 
dispatched from Nacogdoches to turn back Sparks, and 
Don Facundo Malgares was sent from Santa Fe to intercept 
Pike. The Spanish captain, Viana, met Sparks somewhere 
east of the Oklahoma line and compelled him to return. 
Malgares met with less success. After leaving Santa Fe 
he marched down Red River seven hundred miles, turned 
north, and crossed Oklahoma to the Arkansas River. Here 
he left about half of his five hundred men and marched 
north into north-central Kansas, to the Pawnee village on 
the Republican River. Among other presents, each Indian 
tribe was given Spanish flags and medals. These flags Pike 
found floating in the breeze at the tepee of the Pawnee 
chief when he arrived, and it took no little persuasion to 
induce the chief to remove them. Pike would also have 
been compelled to return, had not Malgares retired south 
into Oklahoma when the Americans crossed his trail. But 
Pike escaped this time only to fall prisoner later to the genial 
and kindly Malgares. He confused the sources of the Red 

1 Expedition of Pike, Vol. II, p. 559. 



1 6 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

River with those of the Rio Grande, got into Spanish terri- 
tory, and was eventually taken prisoner ^ (sect. 25). 

19. Expedition to the Salt Plains. The next expedition 
of which I can find any record is that of Colonel George C. 
Sibley, United States Indian agent at Fort Clark (formerly 
called Fort Osage). Bradbury, the scientist, in his *' Travels 
in the Interior of America," tells us that in June, i'8io, he 
met Mr. Sibley, who '' had returned a few days before from 
his tour to the Arkansas, to examine the vast bodies of salt in 
the neighborhood of that river. He very politely furnished us 
with extracts from his journal." ^ In this journal Sibley gives 
a vivid description of the great salt plains of the Cimarron, 
and also tells of the Osage village on the Verdigris. He met 
Clermont, head chief of the Osages of the Oaks, south of the 
Arkansas and had an interview with him. But, like Wilkinson, 
Sibley makes no mention of white men living in this country. 

20. Fort Smith Founded. In reality there is no data to 
lead one to believe that white people had settled in Oklahoma 
prior to the founding of "Fort Smith in 18 17. The location 
for this army post was selected by Major S. H. Long in the 
fall of that year. He named the post Belle Point because of 
its beautiful location at the mouth of the Poteau, in a bend of 
the Arkansas River, just outside the boundary of Oklahoma. 
This fort was not established to protect white settlers, but to 
restrain the Osages and Cherokees in the persistent strife 
that had existed between them ever since the latter had 
begun to settle in Arkansas (sect. 98). 

1 Coues, Expedition of Zebulon M. Pike, p. 413; also see index, under 
Malgares. 

2 Bradbury, Travels in the Interior of America in the Years 1809, 1810, 
181 1 (London, 1819) ; Thwaites, R. G., Early Western Travels (Cleveland, 
1905), Vol. V, p. 191. 



EXPLORATION OF THE ARKANSAS 17 

21. Glenn^s Trading House. Certainly not later than the 
next year (18 18) a trading house was established at the mouth 
of the Verdigris. From the meager data at hand it cannot 
be determined just when or by whom this trading post was 
started. The earliest reference to it thus far met with is in 
Nuttall's "Jo^^i^^y-" ^ When Nuttall was in Cincinnati on 
his way west, he met Colonel Hugh Glenn and received a 
letter of introduction to Colonel Glenn's clerk and interpreter, 
Charles Bogy.^ In the fall of the next year (1820) Thomas 
Say, the zoologist, who led a party of Long's men down the 
Arkansas (sect. 25), spoke of stopping at the trading house of 
Colonel Hugh Glenn. Auguste Pierre Chouteau (p. 14, note), 
who had charge of the Arkansas branch of the Chouteaus 
fur business, was a prisoner in New Mexico in 18 17- 181 8, 
and this must have given Colonel Glenn his opportunity to 
engage in trade with the Osages. Chittenden, in his '' History 
of the American Fur Trade in the Far West " (New York, 
1895), says that Colonel Glenn's establishment was a tempo- 
rary post and was abandoned after the commencement of 
the Santa Fe expedition, in which Glenn joined Fowler 
(sect. 31). As soon as Colonel Chouteau was released by the 
Spanish he returned to the Verdigris and took possession 
of this post. Jacob Fowler gives us no reason why Colonel 
Glenn should have abandoned his establishment as he did in 
1 82 1, but it was probably because of the return of Chouteau.^ 

1 Nuttall, Thomas, A Journey of Travel into Arkansas Territory during 
the Year 1819 (Philadelphia, 1821) ; represented in Thwaites, R. G., Early 
Western Travels, Vol. XIII, p. 260. 

2 Nuttall spells it '' Bougie." Mr. Bogy was the grandfather of Louis 
V. Bogy, United States senator from Missouri (1873-1877). There was also at 
the trading house one Nathaniel Pryor, who had been with Lewis and Clark. 

3 Coues, ElHott, The Journal of Jacob Fowler (New York, 1898), pp. 3-4. 
" We stopped at the trading house of Colonel Hugh Glenn, about a mile 



1 8 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

22. Thomas NuttalPs Journey. Thomas Nuttall, a Har- 
vard professor, has left us a most interesting account of his 
sojourn in Oklahoma in the spring of 1819. He arrived at 
Belle Point (Fort Smith) two years after its establishment. 
At first he was not allowed to proceed, for the govern- 
ment had just determined upon the policy of reserving the 
region west of Fort Smith exclusively for Indians. The 
treaty locating the western Cherokees on the White River 
in Arkansas had been made July 8, 1817.^ The Osages 
claimed all this region at that time, but apparently without 
treaty authority, for the federal government held that the 
Osage country was the region south of the Arkansas and 
west of the Kiamitia and Poteau. In this country whites 
were no longer to be allowed to trespass. '' This morning," 
writes Nuttall in his diary, under date of May 16, 18 19, ''I 
left Fort Smith with major Bradford ^ and a company of 
soldiers, in order to proceed across the wilderness, to the 
confluence of the Kiamesha [Kiamitia] with Red river. 
The object of the major was to execute the order of the 
government, by removing all the resident whites out of the 
territory of the Osages ; the Kiamesha river being now chosen 
as the line of demarcation." ^ We are then given a most in- 
teresting account of the first considerable white settlement 

up the Verdigris, where we remained till the 25th of September making 
arrangements for our journey to the mountains. . . . We found ourselves 
twenty men in all, under the command of Colonel Hugh Glenn." It is quite 
possible that Glenn knew Jacob Fowler previous to the latter's arrival on 
the Verdigris. Glenn was a Cincinnati merchant, and Fowler hailed from 
Covington, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River. In the Cincinnati City 
Directory for 1819 occurs the firm name of James & Hugh Glenn. 

1 Eighteenth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology (Washington, 1899), 
Part II, p. 685. 

2 This was Major William Bradford, then commandant at Fort Smith, 

3 Nuttall, pp. 206-207. 



EXPLORATION OF THE ARKANSAS 19 

in Oklahoma. He tells us of a Mr. Styles, who, driven out 
of the Cherokee country in Arkansas, had but recently 
crossed the divide between the Poteau and the Kiamitia, 
with a wagon that included in its load women and children 
and a blind old grandmother ninety years of age. Some 
twenty families had already taken up their residence at the 
mouth of the Kiamitia, and twelve at Pecan Point, a few 
miles further down Red River. '' The people appeared but 
ill prepared for the official intelligence of their ejectment. 
Some who had cleared considerable farms were thus unex- 
pectedly thrust out into the inhospitable wilderness."^ These 
settlers had been there long enough to raise a wheat crop. 
Nuttall naively remarks that " some settlers had the con- 
science to charge three dollars and a half per bushel for it 
because of the scarcity of last year."^ We can reasonably 
conclude from this that some of these families had settled 
there as early as 18 17, when P'^ort Smith was established. 
Had the government not interfered, the first white settle- 
ment in the state would no doubt have been here in Choctaw 
County. Nuttall gives to these settlers a " hard " reputation, 
saying that they were for the most part " renegadoes from 
justice and such as had forfeited the esteem of society," 
although the families he stopped with while there seemed 
to deserve no such name. 

23. Salt Works on Grand River. Nuttall, being a botanist, 
loitered behind looking for flowers, and the soldiers returned 
to P'ort Smith without him. With considerable difficulty he 
finally made his way back to the fort, accompanied by settlers 
who were looking for some Cherokees accused of having 
stolen their horses. The scientist now went up the Arkansas 

1 Nuttall, pp. 213-214. 2 Ibid., p. 221. 



20 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

River to the trading post previously mentioned (sect. 21). 
From there he proceeded to some abandoned salt works in 
what is now Mayes County, on the Grand, or Six Bulls, 
River, about twenty-five miles from the trading house. His 
diary under date of July 18, 18 19, reads as follows : ''Arrived 
at Mr. Slovers, two miles below Saline. The farm which this 
hunter occupied was finely elevated and productive, and ap- 
parently well suited to the production of small grain." ^ Mr. 
Slover went with Nuttall to the salt works. Shortly before a 
Mr. Campbell, one of the owners of the establishment, had 
been murdered by his partner, Erhart, and two employees. 
Evidently these salt works, which had been established by 
permission of the Indians, had existed for some time, but 
we are unable to determine when they were opened up. In 
September of the next year (1820) Say, the naturalist, when 
at the trading house, heard of the abandoned works and also 
learned that the apparatus had been removed. 

24. Salt Works on the Illinois. Under date of September 
6, 1820, Say, one of Long's men who led a party down the 
Arkansas in 1820 (sect. 25), makes the first mention we 
find of other salt works southeast from the Verdigris trading 
house. " In the evening, we arrived at Mr. Bean's salt works. 
These are situated on a small creek, which flows into the 
Illinois creek about a mile "below, and are at the distance of 
about seven miles from the Arkansas. Mr. Bean commenced 
his operations in the spring, and had already a neat farm-house 
on the Illinois, with a considerable stock of cattle, hogs, and 
poultry, and seven acres in Indian corn. Near the spring 
he had erected a neat log-house, and a shed for the furnace ; 
but his kettles, which were purchased of the proprietors 

1 Nuttall, p. 242. 



EXPLORATION OF THE ARKANSAS 21 

of the Neosho [Grand River] estabhshment, were not yet 
fixed." 1 The next year Jacob Fowler spent the night of 
September 7, 1821, at these same salt works of Mr. Bean.^ 

1 Say's Diary, given in " Long's Journey," Thwaites's Early Western 
Travels, Part III, p. 286. He also gives an interesting account of the first 
tarantula he ever saw. " While waiting with a moderate share of patience 
for our evening meal of boiled pumpkins, one of the children brought us 
a huge, hairy spider, which he carried upon a twig." 

2 Coues, The Journal of Jacob Fowler, p. 2. Fowler was not a very 
successful speller. This is the entry in his journal : " Stopped for the 
night at Beens Salt Workes — the [y] the Workes one Small Well With a 
few kittles about 55 gallons of Watter makes a bushil of Salt and the 
Well affords Watter to boil the kittles about three days in the Weake. 
Been and Sanders Has permission of the govem [government] to Worke 
the Salt Spring — the Sell the Salt at one dollar per. Bushil." 



CHAPTER IV 

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA EXPLORED 

25. Long explores the South Canadian. In 1819 and 1820 
Major S. H. Long made an extended expedition in the great 
West. He led his party to the Rocky Mountains by way of 
the Platte valley in Nebraska, intending to explore the Red 
River on his return. In May, 1806, Captain Richard Sparks 
had attempted the exploration of the Red River valley, but 
he met many difficulties when going up the river, and finally 
encountered a force of Spanish troops, which compelled him 
to return. Texas was then Spanish territory, and the bound- 
ary between Louisiana and the Spanish domain had not been 
determined. Thus Long attempted to accomplish by coming 
from the west what Sparks had failed to do by going up the 
stream. Pike, we have seen, mistook the Rio Grande for Red 
River. Long's experience was similar, only he supposed the 
Canadian ^ to be the Red River. During the long, hot sum- 
mer of 1820 he wearily followed the windings of this stream, 
only to learn that he was upon the Canadian River, and had 
mapped that, instead of the long-sought-for Red River of 
Louisiana. In 1839 Josiah Gregg, a Santa Fe trader, took 
a wagon train from Van Buren, Arkansas, across the entire 

1 Canadian is not a French but a Spanish word. It was called Rio 
Canada, or Rio Canadiano, then Rio Canadian, whence came the present 
word Canadian. It evidently means " canon " and refers "to the way in 
which the stream is boxed up, or shut in, by precipitous walls near the 
headwaters." — Coues, Expedition of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Vol. II, 
p. 558. 

22 



CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA 23 

length of Oklahoma, keeping on the north side of the 
south Canadian. The next year he returned by almost the 
same route. Gregg has left us a most interesting account 
of his trip.^ 

26. Red River Explored. Long's failure was the third un- 
successful effort to explore Red River. It was left for Captain 
Randolph B, Marcy, an officer 'who has written most interest- 
ingly of his western explorations, finally to explore the Red 
River valley. This was not done until 1852, almost a gener- 
ation after the Civilized Tribes had settled in this region. Cap- 
tain Marcy was accompanied on the expedition by Lieutenant 
George B. McClellan, the famous General McClellan of the 
Civil War. He began his march from Fort Belknap, on the 
Brazos River in Texas, May i, 1852. "On the 9th we reached 
the mouth of Cache creek (Comanche county), the point at 
which we were ordered to commence our examinations. This 
point was at that time about two hundred miles, by the mean- 
derings of the river, above the remotest white settlements 
where steamboats had yet reached."^ Marcy first followed 
Red River to a point near the mouth of the North Fork, 
and then the course of the latter stream beyond the looth 
meridian. Captain McClellan located this meridian with con- 
siderable care,^ since it was the boundary line between the 
Chickasaw nation and Texas. The fact that Marcy turned 
to the north, instead of following the main channel of Red 

1 See Gregg's " Commerce of the Prairies," Thwaites, Early Western 
Travels, Vol. XX, Chaps. XVII, XXIV. 

2 Marcy, Colonel R. B., Thirty Years of Army Life on the Border 
(New York, 1866), p. 119. See also Marcy, Randolph B., assisted by 
McClellan, George B., Explorations of the Red River of Louisiana (Wash- 
ington, 1854). 

3 Marcy, Explorations of the Red River (this under date of May 30, 
1852). 



24 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

River, was one of the proofs later put forth by Texas to show 
that the North Fork was really the main channel of Red River, 
and that therefore Greer County was a portion of Texas and 
not a public domain. The expedition returned to Fort 
Arbuckle by way of the Wichita Mountains (see map, p. 3). 

27. Other Expeditions. When Captain Marcy had com- 
pleted his survey of Red River, all Oklahoma had been thor- 
oughly explored and mapped. The explorations enumerated 
above are the ones of most importance to the student of Okla- 
homa history. Early in the thirties exploring parties and mili- 
tary expeditions became numerous, and while there was little 
to add to the geographical knowledge of the state, yet the 
records of these parties are of no small historical value in 
following the gradual, but permanent, conquest of the state 
for civilization. 

28. Washington Irving' s Tour of the Prairies. In October, 
1832, Washington Irving, accompanied by a troop of mounted 
rangers, penetrated the center of the state. Charles Joseph 
Latrobe, an English writer of travel, was one of the party. 
According to his account, the object of the expedition was to 
explore the region a hundred miles west of the Neosho to the 
Grand (South) Canadian, to find whether it was a suitable one 
in which to settle Indians about to be moved from the eastern 
states.^ He reports that it was decided not to be a favorable 
spot for this purpose. '' The object of the expedition, . . . had 
been in one respect accomplished, in that the character of the 
country between the two great rivers had been ascertained, and 

1 Latrobe, Charles Joseph, The Rambler in North America, 1832-1833 
(London, 1835), Vol. I, p. 179. See also Irving, Washington, A Tour of the 
Prairies (New York, 1897), for a most interesting account of this sojourn in 
Oklahoma. For the object of the expedition, see Irving's Tours (Chap. 
VIII) ; and Latrobe, Vol. I, p. 247. 



CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA 25 

found to be such as to preclude all idea of settling the eastern 
Indians upon it. . . . With the exception of the rich alluvial 
lands of the Arkansas, and a few strips of like character along 
the tributary streams, the whole district we had passed over 
was in fact a desert." Some such report the Indian commis- 
sioner, William W. Ellsworth, who was with the party, evi- 
dently made — and this of such counties as Payne, Logan, 
Oklahoma, Cleveland, Pottawatomie, and Lincoln, through 
all of which he must have passed at that time ! 

29. George Catlin in Oklahoma. At the time that Irving 
was on the prairies, or soon after, the Kiowas and Osages 
quarreled and took to the warpath. To quiet this disturb- 
ance, as well as to make a demonstration against all the Plains 
Indians who dwelt in southwest Oklahoma, a large expedition 
was fitted out under General Henry Leavenworth shortly after 
Irving's return. It happened that George Catlin, a talented 
artist, chanced to be in the Indian country at this time and 
accompanied the troops to the Wichita Mountains. Catlin, 
who was also a famous lecturer and writer, gave many years 
of his life to the painting of Indian types and frontier scenes. 
The steel engravings made from his paintings, and the book ^ 
written to accompany them, give us most accurate details con- 
cerning this expedition. General Leavenworth,^ on his arrival 
at Fort Gibson, superseded Colonel Arbuckic in command. 
At the head of a regiment of dragoons and the Seventh 
United States Infantry, and accompanied by a large detach- 
ment of Indian scouts and frontiersmen who marshaled the 
pack train, he proceeded by way of Fort Towson to the mouth 

1 Catlin, George, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Con- 
ditions of the North American Indians (Philadelphia, 1857). 

2 Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, founded in 1827, was named for General 
Leavenworth. 



26 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

of the " False " Washita. ^ Soon after leaving the permanent 
camp established there he was seriously injured by a fall from 
his horse, received when chasing a buffalo calf. He returned 
to camp, where he died July 21, 1834. Many soldiers fell 
sick with fever, and were left on the Washita with the dying 
general. 

30. Treaty with Plains Indians. However, the expedi- 
tion was continued in charge of Colonel Henry Dodge, 
second in command, and the Indian commissioner, Montfort 
Stokes. The troops visited a large Comanche village close 
to the Wichita Mountains and evidently not far south of the 
present site of Anadarko. From this point the command 
marched southwest through the Wichita Mountains to the 
village of the Pawnee Picts, or Wichitas, on Red River. 
These Indians lived, then as now, in large dome-shaped 
grass houses similar to those described by Coronado (see 
p. 4). General Stokes presided at a council held in the 
vicinity of the west slopes of the Wichita Mountains, and 
attended by three of the principal chiefs of the Pawnee 
Picts, fifteen Kiowas,^ one Comanche, and one Waco. 
Seven Comanche chiefs came part way to the council, but 
turned back, afraid that the soldiers would do them injury. 
Catlin has left us a most interesting account of this council, 
and his pictures give us an accurate idea of these truly in- 
digenous Oklahomans, at the time of their first knowledge 

1 The Pawnee Picts, now known as the Wichitas, previous to the com- 
ing of the army had murdered one Judge Martin and his entire family, with 
the exception of one son, when encamped at the mouth of this stream. 
The Pawnee Picts were a small tribe of most energetic and vindictive 
prairie rovers. They were Texas and southwest Oklahoma Indians, no kin 
to the Pawnees of the Platte. Catlin was present when the Pawnees were 
compelled to give up this Martin boy. See Catlin, p. 503. 

2 Catlin spells it " Kioways." See his account of the council, p. 521. 



CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA 27 

of the armed forces of the United States. The expedition 
returned directly to Fort Gibson, undergoing much suffer- 
ing on account of lack of food and water. Virulent fevers 
still prevailed, and Catlin himself was barely nursed back to 
life on his arrival at the fort. 

31. The Missions. No discussion of the early expeditions 
of the white people into Oklahoma would be complete with- 
out mention of the coming of the missionaries. These 
men, moved by their high calling, kept pace with the fur 
traders and the hunters in their invasion of the wilderness. 
Long before the Cherokees were domiciled in Oklahoma, 
and but two years after Fort Smith was established, mission- 
aries were on their way to this region. " I remained at the 
[Fort Smith] garrison," writes Professor Nuttall, ''until the 
1 6th of October (18 19). . . . Among my associates in afflic- 
tion were numbered two missionaries, who had intended to 
proceed to the Osages. One of them (Mr. Viner), after the 
attack of a hngering. fever, paid the debt of nature." ^ In 
spite of his illness the Reverend Mr. Chapman, Mr. Vinall's 
companion, persisted in the enterprise, and in November, 
1 8 19, secured permission from the Osages to locate a mission' 
among them, and on February 18, 1820, Union Mission was 
actually established. Thus this Reverend Mr. Chapman was 
the first Oklahoma missionary. He was sent out by the United 
Missionary Society of New York,'^ an organization supported 
by members of the Reformed Dutch, Associate Reformed, 
and Presbyterian churches. A year later (1821) Jacob Fowler 
speaks of Colonel Glenn's visit to ''the mishun " (sect. 21) 
just before leaving for the West. 

1 Thwaites's reprint of Nuttall's Journey, Vol. XIII, p. 279. 

2 Morse, Rev. Jedidiah, D.D., A Report to the Secretary of War of the 
United States on Indian Affairs (New Haven, 1822), p. 209. 



28 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

The American Board of Missions began its work among 
the western Cherokees in Arkansas in 1820, at a place called 
Dwight, about one hundred miles below Fort Smith. Union 
Mission was located in August, 182 1, on the Neosho, a few 
miles from the trading house on the Verdigris, and Harmony 
Mission, just over the Missouri line, was started the same year. 
It was not until April, 1824, that Fort Gibson was established 
near Union Mission, to serve as a barrier between the Osages 
and the oncoming Cherokees. Wars between the western 
Cherokees and the Osages (sect. 98), and the arrival of other 
Cherokees from the East, kept things in a turmoil, and the 
missions did not flourish as they otherwise would have. In 
1828 the western Cherokees were moved to Oklahoma. The 
next year New Dwight was established on Salisan Creek 
near the Neosho, about fifty miles north of Fort Gibson. 

Both Latrobe and Catlin bear testimony to the earnest piety 
and success of Reverend W. C. Requa, the most famous of 
early Oklahoma missionaries. He '' was an early pioneer of 
Christianity in this country," Catlin tells us, "who has devoted 
many years of his life, with his interesting family, in endeav- 
oring to civilize and Christianize these people, by the force of 
pious and industrious example, which he has successfully set 
them." 1 Latrobe also points out how this little village of the 
Osages was led to right living by being separated from the 
rest of the tribe. '' But few of his Indians join the great 
spring and autumnal hunts, or the war parties of the tribe, 
and that is certain proof of success." ^ Of such feeble but 
earnest beginnings was the missionary work that eventually 
made the Indians of Oklahoma famous for their religious zeal. 

1 Catlin, -Letters and Notes, p. 538. 

2 Latrobe, The Rambler in North America, Vol. 1, p. 162. 



CHAPTER V 

WHY INDIANS WERE FIRST MOVED TO OKLAHOMA 

32. Oklahoma unoccupied by Indians. No large Indian 
tribes occupied Oklahoma permanently for three centuries 
after it became known to white men. Like Kentucky, it was 
rather the hunting ground and game preserve for all the tribes 
which dwelt within a radius of a thousand miles of its well- 
stocked woods and prairies. Coronado, and all the explorers 
and travelers who come after him, describe wandering bands 
of Indians who followed the migrations of the buffalo through 
this region but seemed to have no permanent homes here. 
The Quivera (see map, p. 3) of Coronado was evidently 
north of the region that now constitutes Oklahoma. We 
have seen (sect. 17) that Wilkinson, in 1806, visited a single 
band of Osages, which dwelt upon the Verdigris in what is 
now Oklahoma. The Ouapaws, whom De Soto found settled 
in Arkansas, claimed, with some right, this country as their 
own. But while both these tribes had long resided in the 
vicinity of Oklahoma, neither of them can be called indige- 
nous to the state. The Wichitas, Kiowas, and Comanches 
can perhaps be more correctly termed Oklahoma Indians, for 
they must have wintered frequently in the southwest portion 
of the state near the Wichita Mountains ; but it seems in- 
congruous to call such wanderers as were these tribesmen 
permanent inhabitants of any place. 

33. Early Americans believed in establishing an Indian 
State. It was not until the Five Civilized Tribes began to be 

29 



30 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

moved west of the Mississippi that the region now compris- 
ing the state of Oklahoma had any considerable Indian pop- 
ulation, or was regarded as the proper location for the Indian 
state, long dreamed of by those kindly disposed toward the 
American aborigines. The first treaty made by the govern- 
ment of the United States with an Indian tribe suggested the 
establishment of such an Indian state. In the last article of 
the treaty of 1778 with the Delawares, it was set forth that 
if it should be found to be to the '' interest of both parties," 
other tribes might join the Indian confederation and '' form 
a state" with representation in Congress.^ This treaty, signed 
at Fort Pitt, September 17, 1778, is the first suggestion I have 
found that looked to the setting apart of a section of the 
United States to be given over entirely to Indians. But. this 
idea of an Indian empire was soon forgotten until other 
events revived it. 

34. Effort to induce Indians to become Farmers. Wash- 
ington was much interested in the civilization of the aborigi- 
nes of the country, and in a treaty which he himself made 
with the Cherokee Indians in 1791, during his first term as 
President, he says : '' In order that the Cherokee Nation may 
be led to a greater degree of civilization, and to become herds- 
men and cultivators, instead of remaining in a state of 
hunters, the United States will from time to time furnish 
gratuitously the said Nation with useful implements of hus- 
bandry."^ While this policy of turning the Indians into 
farmers did not succeed well with most of the tribes, yet 
those nations located in the southeastern portion of the United 

1 Senate Document No. 452, " Indian Affairs : Laws and Treaties," 
Vol. II, p. 3. 

2 Senate Document No. 452, p. 25. 



INDIANS FIRST MOVED TO OKLAHOMA 31 

States progressed far too well to please the whites of that 
locality. These southeastern Indians were more civilized than 
any of the other native tribes of America north of Mexico. 
As they advanced in civilization, the prospect of their being 



piRKANSASr T JE N N E S S E^E-.^y^ NORTH CAROLINA 

/%.._| j/- \ 

's^V^W ^^v><^^^ U -^ SOUTH- 

CAROLINA 




Map of Eastern Reservations of Five Civilized Tribes 



willing to move became less, and the states clamored the 
more for their removal. 

35. Why the States objected to Independent Indian Nations 
within their Borders. The reasons why the states objected 
to the presence of the Indians are not difficult to explain. In 
the first place, the Indians held much land that they did not 
use, although their holdings had been cut down from time to 



32 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

time by treaties. The Anglo-Saxon settlers, proverbially land- 
hungry, were incensed that the Indians should be left in pos- 
session of vast tracts of land which apparently they would 
never put to any use. In the second place, the Five Civilized 
Tribes finally organized fairly efficient governments, much 
like the governments of the states. The Indian polities in- 
sisted on being recognized as independent nations, and under 
shrewd leadership treated directly with the national govern- 
ment, ignoring the states in which they were located. It is a 
sound principle of government that there cannot be a state 
within a state. There were bound, therefore, to be count- 
less differences between the citizens of the two regions. It 
seemed wholly unreasonable to Georgia and her neighboring 
states that they must have an extended frontier, to be watched 
and guarded. 

In the third place, it would naturally be a fruitful source 
of difficulty to have races so opposite as the white and Indian 
living close together, especially when their interests seemed 
to conflict. 

36. Jefferson promises Georgia to extinguish Indian Titles. 
In 1802 Georgia ceded her western lands to the United States. 
In the treaty of cession it was stipulated '' that the latter would 
extinguish the Indian titles to the lands within her remaining 
limits ' as soon as it could be done peaceably and on reason- 
able terms.' " ^ But at the same time that President Jefferson 
made this agreement with the state of Georgia, he was nego- 
tiating treaties with the Indians, encouraging them to take up 
agricultural pursuits, to settle down, and cease to be rovers. 

1 William Wirt, quoted in Niles's Register, Vol. XXXIX (June 20, 1830), 
p. 88. Here we find a long and most able argument setting forth the 
Cherokees's right to their Georgia lands. 



INDIANS FIRST MOVED TO OKLAHOMA 33 

Thus materially assisting the Indians, he made it much harder 
to induce them to move. 

•37. Cherokee Nation Divides. However, by a series of 
treaties the United States did succeed in turning over to 
Georgia and other southeastern states a considerable portion 
of the Indian lands. Between the years 1809 and 18 17 prob- 
ably six thousand Cherokees moved to the west of the Missis- 
sippi River, 1 but it was only the more restless hunter members 
of this tribe who went. Wilkinson, as early as 1806, noticed 
scattered villages or camps of Choctaws, Creeks, and Chero- 
kees along the Arkansas. In this way the Cherokee nation 
became and still remains divided.'-^ 

38. Location of Cherokees in Oklahoma. The settlers in 
Arkansas Territory objected to having the Indians retain large 
tracts of fertile land, as vigorously as had the citizens of 
Georgia. So in 1828 the western Cherokees who had re- 
sided on the White and Arkansas rivers in Arkansas were 
again compelled to move on. The Indians were guaranteed 
seven million acres of land in the northeastern corner of what 
is now the state of Oklahoma ; they were also to have " a 
perpetual outlet west as far as the sovereignty and right of 
soil of the United States extended." 

39. Cherokee Outlet. Here we have the first mention of 
the famous '' Cherokee Outlet." It was supposed that if the 

1 Extra Census Bulletin, "The Five Civilized Tribes" (Washington, 
1894), p. 24. 

2 Most of the Cherokees remaining in the East lived on a reservation in 
the extreme western part of North Carolina. A few isolated families still 
reside in Georgia and East Tennessee. Until the tribal rolls were closed in 
the Indian Territory, the tribe was regarded as a unit, and the eastern Chero- 
kees were free to join the main body of the tribe. They were permitted to 
allot land and shared in the tribal funds, exactly upon the same footing as 
those who had lived west of the Mississippi for three quarters of a century. 



34 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

Indians owned the land westward as far as the United States 
dominion extended, all future difficulties would be avoided. 
Spain at this time owned Texas and the region north to the 
Arkansas River (sect. 14), and therefore the '' Outlet," or 
Cherokee strip, extended only to the looth meridian of 
west longitude. It was also stipulated by the United States 
Senate that the northern boundary of this '' Western Out- 
let" should not extend north of 36°, nor should the Chero- 
kee territory include any lands previously assigned the Creeks 
(sect. 48). This presented another difficulty. The Cherokee 
country was found to overlap Creek lands. We shall see that 
the Creeks made treaties in 1825, and again in 1826, which 
looked to their eventual removal to the west of the Missis- 
sippi. Therefore in 1833, by a treaty made at Fort Gibson, 
the Cherokee territory was moved a half degree north, or to 
37°, and the northern boundary of the ''Outlet" was not 
limited to a given parallel as before, but was to be the land 
extending west from the Cherokee nation. The fact that the 
Cherokee lands overlapped those of the Creeks, and that the 
government was compelled to give to the former lands farther 
north, explains why the northern boundary of Oklahoma did 
not remain on the old Missouri Compromise line of 36° 30', 
as was the case when Oklahoma was a part of Arkansas 
Territory (see map, p. 35). In 1837 this " Outlet" was sur- 
veyed under the direction of the Reverend Isaac McCoy, an 
Indian missionary long active in moving Indian tribes west 
of the Mississippi. 

40. The Eastern Cherokees. The eastern Cherokees were 
still more than twice as numerous as the band that had settled 
in the West. In the treaty of 1828, when the western Chero- 
kees were persuaded to move out of Arkansas into what was 




35 



y 



2^6 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

thereafter called the Indian Territory, special inducements 
were held out to eastern Cherokees to move west also. Be- 
sides just compensation for the property which each Indian 
might abandon, he was to be given a rifle, blanket, kettle, five 
pounds of tobacco, and his expenses of emigration. But this 
munificent offer " of shooting iron, kettle, and five pounds of 
tobacco " in no way had the desired effect. Nineteen thou- 
sand Cherokees still remained in the East. Years of contact 
with the whites, coupled with peculiar aptitude, had civilized 
the Cherokees sufficiently to make them realize the value of 
their lands. It had also trained them in the white man's ways 
of resisting aggressions, and had given them a leader of ex- 
traordinary capacity in the person of John Ross. 

41. John Ross. The biography of John Ross (Ko-o-wes- 
ko-o-we), from the time he first entered public life in the 
Cherokee nation in Georgia to his death, fifty-five years later, 
would make a comprehensive history of the Cherokees. Ross 
was born October 3, 1790, in the Cherokee country in Georgia. 
He was one of nine children of the Scotchman, Daniel Ross, 
and his Cherokee wife. Young Ross received a good Eng- 
Ush education at Kingston in Tennessee. His state papers 
bear comparison with those of many of the Presidents of this 
country. At nineteen he began his public career as an emissary 
to the western Cherokees. In 18 17 he became a member of 
the Cherokee national council, in which he served continu- 
ously for ten years, being made president of that body in 1 826. 
He was president of the first Cherokee constitutional conven- 
tion, and became assistant chief of the eastern Cherokees in 
1827 and was made principal chief the next year. In 1839 
he became governor, or principal chief, of the united tribe 
in Indian Territory, and held this office until his death at 



INDIANS FIRST MOVED TO OKLAHOMA 37 

Washington, August i, 1866. Although at times a dictato- 
rial and imperious ruler, yet during the thirty-eight years that 
he was principal chief of the Cherokee nation he was always 
found on the side of the missionaries, favoring right living, 
law, and order, as opposed to the demoralizing influences of 
the frontier. He always counseled peace and moderation, 
and his conciliatory attitude no doubt restrained the Chero- 
kees from many a suicidal foray and Indian war. 



CHAPTER VI 
CREEKS AND CHEROKEES COMPELLED TO LEAVE GEORGIA 

42. Creeks forced out of Georgia. Georgia made her first 
attack upon the Creeks instead of on the Cherokees, for they 
offered less resistance. A glance at the map (p. 31) makes 
clear the locations of the Cherokees and Creeks in that state. 
The Cherokees held the northwestern corner of the state, and 
the Creeks were in possession of a triangular piece of land 
south of the Cherokees. Georgia was much dissatisfied with 
the way the federal government had kept its agreement of 
1802 to ''extinguish the Indian titles to the lands" within 
her borders. As the Indians ceased to be hunters and turned 
farmers, they became attached to the soil. They prospered, 
many of them building comfortable homes and developing 
large tracts of land. They had begun to intermarry with the 
whites, and every drop of white blood in their veins rebelled, 
upon the ground of self-interest, against being forced from 
their homes. Moreover, this was the ancient home of both 
the Creeks and Cherokees, for here De Soto had found them 
in 1 540, and the full-blood Indians were even more set against 
removal than the white men who had come among them. 

43. Chief William Mcintosh betrays the Creeks. In 1823 
George M. Troup, an earnest and able advocate of state 
sovereignty, became governor of Georgia. He felt that it 
was a gross infringement upon the rights of the state to have 
independent Indian governments within the limits of Georgia. 
He proposed to break up these governments, notwithstanding 

38 



CREEKS AND CHEROKEES LEAVE GEORGIA 39 

their treaty rights with the United States. In 1825 a com- 
mission was appointed by President John Quincy Adams to 
treat with the Creeks for their Georgia lands. These com- 
missioners ^ were both Georgians and naturally were extremely 
zealous in this matter. Early in March, 1825, a council of the 
Creeks was called by the commissioners to meet at Indian 
Springs, which was situated in the Georgia portion of the 
Creek nation. Indian Springs was on the personal estate 
of General William Mcintosh, chief of the Coweta band of 
Creeks, who was active in advocating the sale of these lands, 
although the tribe was practically a unit against it. For a long 
time previous to this, Mcintosh had been out of harmony 
with the majority of the tribe. At the battle of Horseshoe 
Bend (March 27, 18 14) he and his followers even fought 
against their own people. General Jackson, in his report of 
the battle, commends Mcintosh for the able assistance ren- 
dered him.^ But this desertion of his own people seems to 
have been forgotten by them, for at the treaty of Indian 
Springs in 1821, when the Creeks surrendered an extensive 
strip of territory, Mcintosh played a prominent part, but not 
in the interest of his people. It is hardly to be doubted that 
he was bribed at that time, for in 1823 we find him suggest- 
ing to John Ross,^ president of the national council of the 
Creeks, that by ceding more lands the Creeks could obtain 
a large bribe. The letter is so typically Indian that I give it 
here in full. 

1 Their names were Duncan G. Campbell and James Merriweather. 

2 The report reads thus : " Major MTntosh, the Coweta, who joined my 
army with a part of his tribe, greatly distinguished himself." — • Drake, S. G., 
Aboriginal Races of North America (revised by H. L. Williams, New York), 

P- 391- 

^ So far as I know, this Ross was no relative of the able Cherokee chief, 
John Ross. 



40 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

Newton, 21st October, 1823 
My Friend, 

I am going to inform you a few lines, as a friend. I want you to give 
me your opinion about the treaty ; whether the chiefs will be willing or 
not. If the chiefs feel disposed to let the United States have the land, 
part of it, I want you to let me know ; I will make the U. States com- 
missioners give you 2000 dollars, A. M'Coy the same, and Charles Hicks 
3000 dollars, for present, and nobody shall know it; and if you think 
the land woulden sold, I will be satisfied. If the land should be sold, I 
will get you the amount before the treaty sign, and if you get any friend 
you want him to receive, they shall receive. Nothing more to inform 

you at present. 

I remam your affectionate friend, 

Wm. Mcintosh 
John Ross 

An answer return 

N. B. The whole amount is $12,000. You can divide among your 
friends, exclusive 17000.^ 

It would seem from the postscript that the frugal Mcintosh 
aimed to retain five thousand dollars for his own profit in the 
deal. But Mcintosh made a mistake in writing to Ross. 
Three days after the letter was written a Creek council was 
called (October 24, 1823), at which the letter was read and 
Mcintosh exposed. 

44. Treaty of Indian Springs. In 1825 we find General 
Mcintosh again at Indian Springs, the chief advocate of 
doing just what Georgia and the whites wanted done. An 
old chief arose and announced the policy of the tribe : 

We have met you here at a very short notice, and do not think that 
the chiefs who are here have any authority to treat. General Mcintosh 
knows that we are bound by our laws, and what is not done in the pub- 
lic square, in the general council, is not binding on the Nation. I am, 
therefore, under the necessity of repeating the same answer as given at 
Broken Arrow. We have no lands to sell. I know that there are but 
few here from the upper towns, and many are absent from the lower 

1 Quoted in Drake's Aboriginal Races, pp. 392-393. 



CREEKS AND CHEROKEES LEAVE GEORGIA 41 

towns. General Mcintosh knows that no part of the land can be sold 
without a full council, and with the consent of all the nation, and if a 
part of the nation choose to leave the country they cannot sell the land 
they leave, but it belongs to the nation. This is the only talk I have for 
you. I shall return home immediately.^ 

Here we have an apt expression of the Indian's case. The 
tribe held the lands in common, and only the tribe could 
dispose of them. But notwithstanding the departure of some 
of the chiefs and the small attendance at this council, the 
commissioners proceeded to make a treaty with Mcintosh. 
These commissioners immediately wrote Governor Troup : 
'' We are happy to inform )'ou that ' the long agony is over,' 
and that we concluded a treaty, yesterday, witJi what we con- 
sider the nation, for nearly the whole country." '-^ The matter 
was afterwards investigated by General Gaines, a federal offi- 
cial, and it was found that but two Indians, who in any way 
had legal right so to do, signed the treaty.^ 

45. Georgia seizes the Creek Lands. Georgia assumed 
that the treaty was in every way legal, and immediatel)' began 
to take possession of the Creek lands. Nothing was finer 
than Creek and Cherokee fortitude in these days of their 
persecution. Instead of striking back and launching forth 
upon bloody forays, and thus giving the whites an excuse for 
the complete annihilation of the tribes, they evinced a degree 
of moderation and self-restraint hard to reconcile with the 
typical idea of Indian character. I have failed to find a single 
instance where the Indians in either the Creek or Cherokee 

1 Drake, Aboriginal Races, p. 292. The speaker was the chief of the 
To-kaw-bat-chees, and in the treaty which Mcintosh persisted in making, 
this clan is expressly excepted. See Senate Document No. 452, " Indian 
Affairs: Laws and Treaties," Vol. II, p. 151. 

2 Niles's Register, Vol. XXVIII, p. 18. 

3 Ibid., Vol. XXX, p. 256. 



42 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

tribes, although so grievously wronged, resorted to arms. 
While the treason of Mcintosh and his fellow conspirators 
met with speedy and drastic punishment, yet the intruding 
whites who swarmed in upon the Indian lands were never 
attacked or molested. 

46. Assassination of Mcintosh and his Co-conspirators. 
The Creeks immediately called a council to see what steps 
should be taken to save their dominion in Georgia. The 
death of General Mcintosh was immediately decreed in ac- 
cordance with Creek law. On Sunday, May i, 1825, his 
house was surrounded by one hundred Okfuskee warriors. 
The women, children, and white men in the house were told 
to come out. Chilly Mcintosh, eldest son of the doomed 
chief, who later played an important part in Oklahoma history, 
was allowed to retire unharmed. Then the house was set on 
fire. When Mcintosh and E-to-me,^ the only other chief 
who had signed the hated treaty, attempted to escape, they 
were shot down^ The same day Samuel Hawkins, a half- 
breed, was hanged, and the next day Benjaman Hawkins, 
another half-breed, was wounded but not killed. These two 
men were brothers of one of the wives of Mcintosh, and had 
consented to the treaty. These "executions " were immedi- 
ately heralded by the Georgia press as Indian outrages. But 
Colonel John Crowell, the Creek Indian agent, reported 
that all whites were safe in the Creek country and that the 
Mcintosh matter was merely "an affair of their own."^ 

47. Creeks make New Treaty at Washington. It is im- 
possible to follow all the details of the quarrel Georgia now 

1 This chief's full name was E-to-me Tus-tung-nug-gee. He, too, was a 
Coweta Creek. 

2 Niles's Register, Vol. XXVIII, p. 197. 



CREEKS AND CHEROKEES LEAVE GEORGIA 43 

forced upon the Creeks. The state assumed that everything 
done by Mcintosh was vahd and binding upon the Indians. 
Investigations ordered by President Adams resulted in the 
administration's decision that this was not the case, and prop- 
erly authorized Creek chiefs were induced to come to Wash- 
ington the next year to ratify a new treaty for the Georgia 
lands, which the tribe had virtually lost through the treachery 
of Mcintosh. The new treaty made at Washington, Janu- 
ary 24, 1826, put into effect all the important provisions of 
the treaty of the previous year, although the Indian Springs, 
or Mcintosh, treaty was expressly declared null and void. 
The new treaty demanded the surrender of all the Creek lands 
in Georgia ; but a large sum was paid the Creek chiefs for 
them, and a perpetual annuity of twenty thousand dollars was 
to be paid the tribe. Most of the two hundred and seventeen 
thousand six hundred dollars that was paid the Creeks at the 
time the treaty was made was immediately pocketed by the 
chiefs who were in attendance at Washington. Major Ridge, 
a Cherokee of whom we shall hear often, chanced to be 
present and was given ten thousand dollars by the generous 
and open-handed Creeks. Twenty-two chiefs thus divided 
one hundred and fifty-nine thousand seven hundred dollars 
among themselves.^ 

48. Mcintosh removes to Oklahoma. Most of the Creeks 
when compelled to leave Georgia merely removed across the 
state line into Alabama, where the tribe still had large hold- 
ings. But the dispute between the Coweta band of Creeks 
and the rest of the tribe became so bitter that a large num- 
ber of the followers of Mcintosh, under the leadership of 
his son Chilly Mcintosh, removed directly from Georgia to 

1 Ibid., Vol. XXX, pp. 257-258. 



44 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

Oklahoma. Here they were settled upon a reservation that 
had been set aside for the Creeks in October, 1820. 

49. Forced Removal of the Cherokees. Georgia's eminent 
success in driving the Creeks out of that state led its gov- 
ernor immediately to turn his attention to the Cherokees. Try 
as he would to bring it about, this tribe would make no treaty 
and evinced no disposition to move. It still held 5,292,160 
acres of land in the northwestern corner of Georgia, to say noth- 
ing of holdings in Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. 
December 19, 1829, Georgia annexed the Cherokee lands to 
five adjacent counties and declared that after June i, 1830, 
all laws of the Cherokee nation would be null and void, and 
that all Indians resident in the Cherokee country would be 
subject to the laws of the state. In July, 1829, gold was dis- 
covered in the Cherokee country in Georgia. This gave a 
powerful stimulus to dispossess the Indians. By the summer 
of 1830 some three thousand persons were searching for gold 
in northwestern Georgia, where the United States, Georgia, 
and the Cherokee nation all claimed jurisdiction. ^ 

50. President Jackson refused to aid the Cherokees. Presi- 
dent Adams sought to prevent this palpable violation of 
Cherokee treaty rights. But March 4, 1829, Andrew Jack- 
son became President. He reiterated again and again, as this 
Cherokee imbroglio developed the proportions of a national 
issue, that the President had no constitutional right "to apply 
military force to the removal of persons from any part of the 
Indian country over which the laws of the proper state have 
been extended." ^ This decision of the President made it 

1 MacDonald, Wm., in American Nation Series, Jacksonian Democracy, 
1829-1837 (New York and London, 1906), p. 173. 

2 Letter to John Ross from Albert Herring, commissioner of Indian 
affairs, Niles's Register, Vol. XLIV, p. 14. 



CREEKS AND CHEROKEES LEAVE GEORGIA 45 

easy for any state to invade the territory of the Indian na- 
tions, although successive treaties expressly stipulated that 
the United States solemnly guaranteed to the Indians " all 
their lands." And while this policy of President Jackson 
seems hard, and in direct conflict with treaty obligations, yet 
it must be admitted that if the United States was to become a 
great homogeneous nation, it could not nurture independent 
nations within its borders. 

51. Missionaries imprisoned who refused to submit to 
State Law. In December, 1830, Georgia passed an act 
forbidding any white person, except an agent of the United 
States government, to reside within the former Cherokee 
reservation without a license from the state. The Reverend 
Samuel A. Worcester, a Presbyterian missionary, and Dr. 
Butler, another missionary, were arrested and sent to the 
penitentiary for four years under this act. A writ of habeas 
corpus was served, and Chief Justice Marshall, of the United 
States Supreme Court, ordered Worcester discharged. 

52. Supreme Court Defied. Georgia refused to obey the 
order of the Supreme Court, and the President refused to 
assist in enforcing the court's decree. Jackson declared 
that ''John Marshall had made his decision; now let him 
enforce it." In spite of this hostile attitude of the President, 
the Cherokees were much elated. There was feasting and 
dancing when the news of the Supreme Court decision 
reached them, for the decision, while freeing Worcester, 
also declared null and void the laws of Georgia invading 
Cherokee sovereignty. But Georgia paid no attention to the 
court's decree. It continued to make its laws effective in 
the Cherokee country, and a few months later we find John 
Ross, principal chief of the Cherokees, appointing Thursday, 



46 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

July 19, 1832, a day of fasting and prayer for relief from 
Georgia's aggressions.^ 

53. President Jackson's Inconsistency. Nothing was of 
avail, however, and early in the next year (1833) we find the 
Cherokees in Washington willing to make a treaty of removal. 
General Lewis Cass, President Jackson's secretary of state, 
was in charge of the negotiations for the government. General 
Cass had everything arranged for a successful treaty with the 
Cherokees, when suddenly they broke off negotiations and re- 
turned home. This was March 2, 1833. On March i Con- 
gress had passed the Force Bill in answer to South Carolina's 
nullification proclamation. This bill gave the President author- 
ity to use military force to uphold the decisions of the federal 
courts. If President Jackson was given the express authority 
to enforce court decrees in regard to tariff matters, the Indians 
reasoned that he had the same authority in regard to other 
direct and palpable violations of express decisions of the high- 
est court in the country. But the Cherokees little understood 
the character of Andrew Jackson. Consistency concerned him 
little. South Carolina had to submit in the tariff dispute, 
while Georgia proceeded to work her own sweet will upon 
the defenseless Cherokees. The missionaries Worcester and 
Butler, after languishing for over a year in the Georgia peni- 
tentiary, were finally pardoned by Governor Gilmer, on their 
express promise not to return to the Cherokee country with- 
out the necessary state license.^ 

It was a hopeless struggle for the Cherokees. Finally, 
early in 1835 (February 28), they concluded a treaty for the 

1 Niles's Register, Vol. XLI, p. 441. See also reference for above, p. 117. 

2 They actually served one year and five months of the four-year term 
for which they were imprisoned. The United States court ordered their 
release March 3, 1832, and they were held by Georgia until January 14, 1833. 



CREEKS AND CHEROKEES LEAVE GEORGIA 47 

removal of the tribe to the west of the Mississippi. The 
Cherokees had exaggerated ideas as to the value of their 
land, and because of the difference between the valuations 
of it by the white and Indian commissions, the Senate of 
the United States was to decide how much should be paid 
the Indians for their holdings. This sum was fixed at five 
million dollars, an amount that the Cherokees felt was 
entirely too small. Chief Ross and most of the tribe op- 
posed the acceptance of the award and left the council. 

54. Cherokee Treaty Party is Formed. Meanwhile, a 
''treaty party " had grown up under the leadership of Major 
and John Ridge, who were ably supported by Elias Boudinot. 
As early as August, 1832, this gifted young Indian tendered 
his resignation. as editor of the Cherokee Phccnix. " I can- 
not tell them [the Cherokees]," he wrote to John Ross in his 
letter of resignation, "that we will be assisted in our rights 
when I have no such hope, and after our leading, active, 
and true friends in Congress and elsewhere have signified to 
us that they can do us no good." ^ Boudinot and the Ridges 
had at last been forced to the conclusion that it was use- 
less to struggle longer. They advocated accepting the treaty 
with the Senate's award, but the treaty was not ratified and 
the matter hung fire all the year. For the Ridges, becoming 
alarmed, refused for a time to further the removal project. 

55. Treaty of New Ec-ho-ta. The United States commis- 
sioners. General William Carroll and J. T. Schermerhorn, 
then called another council. This council met at New Ec- 
ho-ta, Georgia, on December 29, 1835. In the proclamation 
calling the meeting it was announced that the commissioners 
would be prepared to make a treaty with the Cherokee people 

1 Niles's Register, Vol. XLII, p. 47. 



48 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

who should assemble there, and that they would conclude 
that those who did not come gave their assent and sanction 
to whatever should be transacted at this council. ^ The Chero- 
kees were now doomed. The small minority favoring removal, 
headed by the Ridges, appeared at the appointed time. Just 
twenty Cherokee chiefs and headsmen were present, the great 
body of the tribe being as much opposed to removal as ever. 
Like Mcintosh (sect. 46) of the Creek nation, with but a 
minority of the council present this handful transacted tribal 
business ; and, like Mcintosh, with their blood they paid for 
their transgression of tribal law. This council relinquished 
all the lands claimed or possessed by the tribe east of the 
Mississippi. It was thus that the Cherokees lost title to a 
district exceeding in area the states of Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, and Rhode Island.^ Besides the five million dollars, 
the Indians were to receive an additional grant of land in the 
Indian Territory, but had to meet the expense of removal to 
their new home. In spite of the fact that only a mere hand- 
ful of Cherokees was present at this final council at New 
Ec-ho-ta, and that the council was not legally summoned nor 
the treaty officially sanctioned by the Cherokee nation, the 
treaty was ratified by the United States Senate and the 
Indians had to move. The Cherokees protested bitterly, but 
in vain, and on May 26, 1836, the treaty of New Ec-ho-ta 
was officially proclaimed. 

56. Cherokees still refused to Move. Still the Cherokees 
refused to abide by a treaty to which they had never con- 
sented, and many of them showed no disposition to move. 
Meanwhile, the state of Georgia started to survey and sell the 

1 See preamble to the treaty of New Ec-ho-ta, Senate Document No. 452. 

2 Jackson, Helen Hunt, A Century of Dishonor, p. 229. 



CREEKS AND CHEROKEES LEAVE GEORGIA 49 

Indian lands/ and thus to dispossess the Cherokees of their 
homes. It was rumored that the Indians were about to make 
resistance, and a large force of militia was sent into the region, 
but they remained quietly in their homes until General 
Winfield Scott '^ appeared with a force of two thousand 
regulars. This was in the spring of 1838. The Cherokees 
were then compelled to leave the lands of their fathers. 
Hunger, cold, and exposure left a trail of bleaching bones 
from Georgia to Tahlequah. General J. E. Wood, who as- 
sisted General Scott in this enterprise, tells us that "the 
whole scene . . . has been heartrending, and such a one 
as I would be glad to get rid of." 

57. Assassination of Ridge. The bitterness engendered by 
the forced removal of the Cherokees was not to die out until 
long after the Civil War. The Ridge, or treaty, party, on ar- 
riving in Indian Territory undertook to control affairs and 
allied itself with the old settlers, that is, with those who had 
moved into the territory from Arkansas. But the antitreaty 
party, which comprised the greater part of the newcomers, was 
the larger, and John Ross was chosen principal chief of the 
joined but not united tribe. Bitter hostility existed between 
the two factions of the tribe. The western Cherokees, or " old 
settlers," and the Ridge, or treaty, party especially objected 

1 The land was divided among Georgia citizens by means of a lottery. 

2 " Cherokees," said General Scott, " the President of the United States 
has sent me with a powerful army to cause you, in obedience to the 
treaty of 1835, to join that part of your people who are already settled 
on the other side of the Mississippi. Unhappily the two years which 
were allowed for the purpose you have suffered to pass away without fol- 
lowing, and without making any preparation to follow. The full moon 
of May is already on the wane, and before another shall have passed 
away every Cherokee, man, woman, and child, must be in motion to join 
their brethren in the west." — Jackson, Helen Hunt, Century of Dishonor, 
p. 281. 



50 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

to having the Ross faction seize all the tribal offices. Neither 
side showed a willingness to compromise. A convention was 
called June 20, 1839, ^t Tus-ka-to-kah to adjust the difficul- 
ties. The Ross faction determined to retain its power and 
the Ridges resolved not to yield. The Ridge chiefs finally 
withdrew to their homes. Then, if we may accept Stand 
Watie's statement/ on the evening that this councilwas dis- 
solved a secret conclave of the Ross leaders was held. Forty 
men were selected to ''execute " those leaders of the Ridge 
party who had signed the hated treaty of New Ec-ho-ta. 
However true may be the assertion regarding the dark con- 
clave, it is certain that on the following day Boudinot, who 
was a physician, was accosted by four Indians and asked to 
visit a near-by house and administer some medicine. With 
his usual promptness he complied, and had proceeded about 
half the way when he was suddenly assassinated. According 
to the account which I found, not satisfied with his death they 
cut his body to pieces in the most shocking manner. John 
Ridge was the next victim. His home was surrounded early 
Saturday morning, June 22, before he was up, and he was 
murdered '' in a manner too savage to relate." Major Ridge, 
the father, was absent on a visit to some friends in Van Buren, 
Arkansas. He was overtaken near the foot of the Boston 
Mountains and shot from his horse.^ 

John Ross was accused of instigating these assassinations, 
but he always disavowed any responsibility for the bloody deed,, 

1 Congressional Documents, Vol. XXVI, quoted in Schoolcraft, H. R., 
History of the Indian Tribes of the United States (Philadelphia, 1857), p. 501. 

2 I have followed the accounts of Schoolcraft, pp. 501-506, and Drake, 
Aboriginal Races, pp. 460-461. Major Ridge was sixty-five years old at 
this time and his son thirty-seven. Colonel S. W. Bell and two or three 
others of the Ridge party also met a similar fate at this time. 



CREEKS AND CHEROKEES LEAVE GEORGIA 51 

and a knowledge of his high character leads us to accept his 
statement as true. For a time he was forced to surround his 
house with a guard of five hundred adherents. Several of the 
opposing chiefs fled to Fort Gibson. General Arbuckle offered 
Ross protection at the fort also, but he refused to leave his 
home. A general council of the Cherokees was held, attended 
only by the Ross faction, at which amnesty was granted to 
the murderers, and later some of the Ridge leaders were de- 
clared outlaws. However, in 1840 the Cherokees made com- 
promises. Stand Watie and E. C. Boudinot, younger brothers 
of Elias Boudinot, always stood ready to head an insurrection 
among the Cherokees, but the administration of Ross was such 
that he held firm control until the confusion of the Civil War 
gave his quondam enemies their opportunity (sect. no). 



CHAPTER VII 



GEORGIA'S EXAMPLE 



58. Removal of the Creeks from Alabama. We have 
seen (sect. 45) how the Creeks were forced to move from 
Georgia by the pseudo-McIntosh treaty of 1825 and that 
made at Washington the next year. We are now to see how 
Alabama got rid of her Indian nations. The clamor for the 
Muskogee lands in this state was just as persistent as in 
Georgia. The Creeks realized that they would have to yield, 
and in 1832 General Cass, that preeminent Indian negotiator 
of Indian treaties, induced them to agree to move.^ " But 
there were important conditions attached. While ample pro- 
vision was made for the removal of the Creeks . . . [yet] it was 
expressly provided that the Indians should not be compelled 
to go, but they should be free to go or stay as they pleased." '^ 
The Creeks were to be given farms which they should be free 
to keep or to sell. The whites were to stay out of the Indian 
country until the government had surveyed the land and 
made the allotments. This was far too slow for the land- 
hungry Alabamans. They rushed in upon the Creek lands 
and refused to move out when soldiers were sent against 
them. Boom towns were burned and blood was shed in the 

1 This is known as the treaty of Cusseta, where the prehminary negotia- 
tions were carried on. The treaty was concluded at Washington, March 
24, 1832. 

2 McCorvey, Thomas C, Mission of Francis Scott Key to Alabama in 
1833 (Montgomery, Alabama, 1904), p. 145. 

52 



GEORGIA'S EXAMPLE FOLLOWED 53 

controversy that followed between the intruders and the 
United States soldiers. This strife, however, was not to 
President Jackson's liking, and as soon as Alabama extended 
its state laws over the Creek country (December 18, 1832), the 
President maintained that he had no authority to interfere. 
He refused to go further in expelling the whites from the 
Creek lands, and there was nothing for the Indians to do but 
to move. Thus the great body of the Muskogee Indians 
joined their kindred of the Mcintosh band, who had pre- 
ceded them to the Indian Territory by five or six years. 
It must not be understood, however, that the large body of 
Creeks, possibly sixteen thousand in all, moved at one time. 
In all these Indian migrations certain groups went one year 
and others another. Many were transported in steamships 
by way of Mobile, New Orleans, and the Arkansas River ; 
some went in wagons, others marched. It was years before 
they had all arrived at their new homes. Probably it was not 
until 1840 that most of the Indians had arrived in Oklahoma, 
and as late as 1902 eastern Indians came west to join their 
kindred who dwelt in this state. 

59. Choctaws forced out of Mississippi. The state of 
Mississippi, even earlier than Alabama, followed the example 
of Georgia. In 1830 it extended the laws of the state over 
the Choctaws. This virtually forced the Indians to abandon 
their homes and to agree to move to the wilderness west of 
Arkansas, lying between the Red and Canadian rivers. This 
country had been ceded to the Choctaws in a treaty made 
with them by General Jackson, October 20, 1820. The 
Choctaws were less advanced in civilization than the Creeks 
and Cherokees, and since they were for the most part hunters, 
it was easier to induce them to move than the tribes that had 



54 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

become semifarmers. However, only the more restless Choc- 
taws were willing to leave, and the longer the great body of 
the tribe remained in Mississippi, the less disposed it was to 
migrate to a new country. 

60. Why the Indians could not live under State Law. 
Although the Indians were unwilling to move, theyielt that 
they could not live under state laws. For instance, one of 
their head chiefs, Pushmataha, killed one of his subjects. 
In doing this he acted under his tribal authority, for the 
Indian had been sentenced to death in accordance with Choc- 
taw law; but under Mississippi law this became murder. 
The old chief had incurred the hatred of the land companies 
organized to purchase reservations, and they wanted him out 
of the way. They therefore employed able attorneys to aid 
in the prosecution, and he was sentenced to be hanged. The 
chief, shocked at the mode of execution, begged to die like 
a warrior, but the court had no power to interfere. When 
sentence was passed upon him, '' Pushmataha rose to his full 
height, and gave vent to a wild warwhoop, so full of rage and 
despair that it was terrible to hear." ^ Just before the time 
of execution the doomed chieftain attempted to commit sui- 
cide in jail with a broken bottle. At the last moment, how- 
ever, he was pardoned, and at once removed to Indian 
Territory, where he lived a useful life.^ 

61 . Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. Under such circum- 
stances it is not surprising that the Choctaws were ready 
to move. At Dancing Rabbit Creek, September 27, 1830, 
they agreed to abandon their homes east of the Mississippi 

1 Davis, Ruben, Recollections of Mississippi (New York, 1889), p. 61. 

2 One of the southeastern counties of Oklahoma is named in honor of 
this chief. 



GEORGIA'S EXAMPLE FOLLOWED 55 

River/ but Captain George W, Harkin,^ a Choctaw chief, 
makes it clear in his farewell address that the Indians were not 
leaving their ancestral home through choice. " We go forth 
sorrowfully," said he, " knowing that wrong has been done." 
The Choctaws, like the other tribes, did not all move at one 
time. According to Niles's " Register" there were between 
four and five thousand Choctaws still in Mississippi in 
January, 1847. The government transported the tribe chiefly 
by steamboat ; an emigrating party would meet at some con- 
venient wharf on the Mississippi River, where a boat would 
be in readiness to take them up the Arkansas River to the 
Choctaw country. There they would be unloaded and left to 
seek locations in the region to the south. 

62. Chickasaw Migration. In 1830 the Chickasaws oc- 
cupied the northern portion of Mississippi (see map, p. 31), 
and in that year this state extended its laws over them as it 
did over the Choctaws. Two years later, at the treaty of Pon- 
totoc Creek,'^ the Chickasaws ceded all their lands to the 

1 This is how the treaty begins : " Whereas the general assembly of the 
state of Mississippi has extended the laws of said state, to persons and 
property within the chartered limits of the s^mie, and the President of the 
United States has said that he cannot'protect the Choctaw people from 
the operation of these laws ; Now therefore that the Choctaws may live 
under their own laws in peace with the United States and the State of 
Mississippi they have determined to sell their lands east of the Mississippi." 
Senate Document No. 452, " Indian A^airs : Laws and Treaties " (Wash- 
ington, 1903), Vol. II, p. 221. 

2 Captain Harkin was a nephew of Greenwood Laflore and succeeded 
the latter as chief. 

3 The preamble of this treaty also speaks of the hardships put upon 
them : " The Chickasaw Nation find themselves oppressed in their pres- 
ent position ; by being made subject to the laws of the states in which they 
reside. Being ignorant of the language and laws of the white man, they 
cannot understand or obey them. Rather than submit to this great evil, 
they prefer to seek a home in the west, where they may live and be 
governed by their own laws." — Senate Document No. 452, Vol. II, p. 259. 



56 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

United States, with the understanding that the lands were 
to be resold and the money kept on deposit for their benefit. 
With part of it they expected to purchase a new home. But 
the movements of the Indians were far too slow to keep pace 
with the zeal of the white settlers, who wished to appropriate 
the ceded lands. The whites swarmed in upon the Chicka- 
saws, and another treaty had to be made in 1834 to meet 
this situation. Finally, on January 17, 1837, the Chicka- 
saws purchased from the Choctaws'a district on the Red 
River west and south of the Washita. They were also to 
abandon their government by a king^ and form a part of 
the Choctaw republic with equal rights. However, they were 
not required to settle within this district, but were free to take 
up unoccupied land anywhere in the Choctaw nation. The 
two tribes were closely related, spoke similar dialects, and for 
a time this arrangement worked very well. 

63. The Seminoles. The word Seminole is Muskogee for 
''wild" or "wanderer." This tribe consisted chiefly of two 
bands of Creeks who had abandoned their Alabama homes 
in 1750 and 1808, and had taken up their residence in the 
swamps of Florida. From time to time they were joined by 
runaway slaves and predatory bands of Florida Indians. Dur- 
ing the Revolution they were under English influence and 
hostile to the Americans. Again in the War of 18 12 they 
fought the Americans, although they then resided in Spanish 
territory. In 18 19, at the time of the Florida purchase, they 
came under the authority of the United States. By the treaty 
of Fort Moultrie, September 18, 1823, they gave up all their 
lands except a small territory ; but certain of the Seminole 

1 Ish-ta-ho-ta-pa was king of the Chickasaws at the time the treaty of 
1834 was made. 



GEORGIA'S EXAMPLE FOLLOWED 57 

chiefs objected to leaving the district then inhabited by them, 
and they were allowed to remain. The granting of this con- 
cession led to trouble, for the white settlers clamored for the 
removal of the Indians. 

64. Treaty of Payne's Landing. Finally, in that crowning 
year of Indian removal treaties, 1832, the government suc- 
ceeded in getting a quasi treaty from the Seminoles, at Payne's 
Landing, May 9. Only fifteen of the fifty- two towns of the 
tribe were represented at this treaty. The Seminoles sur- 
rendered their Florida possessions and agreed to move west 
of the Mississippi River, provided a delegation of seven 
chiefs, headed by John Jumper and accompanied by Abraham, 
the negro interpreter, and Major Phagan, their agent, should 
visit the Creek country and find it satisfactory, and their 
kindred, the Creeks, kindly disposed toward them. While 
this delegation was examining the Creek country, the United 
States commissioners obtained a treaty from the Creeks, ced- 
ing a tract of territory to the Seminoles. ^ Then when the 
Seminole delegation was back at Fort Gibson, the seven 
chiefs were in some way induced to sign a treaty of removal. 
It was generally understood by the Indians that the treaty of 
Payne's Landing was not to be binding until the men sent 
to examine the new country had made their rejport to the 
tribe and it had signified its desire to move.'-^ Chief Jumper 
had no idea he was signing a treaty of removal at F'ort Gib- 
son. Back in Florida in 1834 he told General Thompson 
that they had merely signed a paper which said, " We like 
the land." At last, after a year of stubborn resistance on the 
part of the Seminoles, General Thompson told them at a 

1 Treaty of Fort Gibson, February 14, 1833. 

2 Niles's Register, Vol. XLIII, p. 367. 



58 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

council held April 22, 1835, that they must go. The next 
day fifteen chiefs agreed to remove. For thus breaking with 
the majority of the tribe, most of the chiefs, like Mcintosh 
(sect. 46) and the Cherokees of the Ridge faction (sect. 57), 
paid the penalty of death. 

65. Seminole War. The agent. General Thompson, when 
he found the chiefs obdurate, deposed five of them and put 
Osceola in irons. The Seminoles, less civilized than the 
Cherokees and Creeks, instead of submitting to the inevitable, 
began a war of extermination. With less than five hundred 
warriors they waged a war against the whites that lasted for 
eight years, cost the United States ^10,000,000 and 1466 
lives, and was terminated only after thousands of troops and 
our most able generals, Scott and Taylor, had been pitted 
against them. Osceola, for months after his release by 
General Thompson, waited his opportunity for vengeance, 
and finally, December 28, 1835, assassinated the agent and 
four others when at dinner near Fort King. The same day 
Major Dade and his entire command of one hundred and 
ten men, except two wounded soldiers who escaped by feign- 
ing death, were annihilated. For years the Seminoles waged 
successful war against great odds, but at last were thoroughly 
defeated by General Taylor. Most of the survivors then sur- 
rendered, but Osceola continued the fight until October 21, 
1837, when he was induced to hold a conference under a flag 
of truce with General Jesup. He was treacherously seized and 
sent to Fort Moultrie in Charleston harbor, where he was kept 
a prisoner until his death. By 1842 hardly three hundred 
Seminoles remained in F'^lorida, and the war ceased. 

66. Seminoles in Oklahoma. By 1839 the government 
had succeeded in transporting to Oklahoma nineteen hundred 



GEORGIA'S EXAMPLE FOLLOWED 59 

of the tribe. At first they settled among the Creeks, but this 
proved unsatisfactory. The negroes who Uved with the Semi- 
noles were claimed as slaves in such numbers by the Creeks 
and whites that one of their chiefs (Co-a-co-o-chee) with a 
considerable band of followers retired to Mexico. In 1845 
a treaty gave them some relief and a separate tract of land 
(see map, p. 74), but this tract had no definite boundaries, 
and it was not until the treaty of August 7, 1856, signed by 
the United States, Creeks, and Seminoles, that the latter 
were assigned lands and recognized as a " nation." ^ Some 
of those who went to Mexico returned later, and one hundred 
and sixty-four of those in Florida joined their brethren in 
Indian Territor}', so that in 1858 the total number of the 
tribe was 2253. 

67. Summary. We have seen that in 1802 the federal 
government agreed to drive out the Indian tribes in Georgia 
as soon as it could be done peaceably. When the Indians re- 
fused to sell, the people of Georgia proceeded to make it so 
unpleasant for them that they had to leave. The other south- 
eastern states, following the example of Georgia, forced the 
tribes within their boundaries to move. The more civilized 
tribes, realizing the hopelessness of the struggle, did not re- 
sort to arms. The Seminoles, however, attacked their op- 
pressors with savage fury, and, favored by the swamps of the 
everglades, put the government to vast expense in men and 
treasure before they were forcibly settled among the Creeks. 

1 See map, p. 74. The new Seminole country was to be the land between 
the North and South Canadian, beginning a little east of the 97th meridian 
and extending west to the looth meridian, which is the Texas line. Close 
to the 99th meridian the North Canadian crosses into the Cherokee Outlet, 
and of course the north boundary of the Seminole country followed that 
line to the west boundary of Indian Territory, 



CHAPTER VIII 

INDIAN GOVERNMENTS 

68. Number of Indians who removed to Oklahoma. We 

have seen that the Five CiviUzed Tribes were forced to re- 
move into what is now Oklahoma against the will of a large 
majority of the tribesmen ; that they settled here in large 
bodies ; and that a portion of the country, which had previ- 
ously had almost no permanent inhabitants, became suddenly 
the most densely populated of all that great plain far west of 
the Mississippi. It is difficult to tell with exactness just how 
many Indians settled in Oklahoma between the years 1820, 
when the first Choctaws began to arrive, and 1850, when 
these early Indian migrations were completed. The statistics 
at hand are not satisfactory. In 1831 it was estimated that 
the Five Nations, which later became known as the Five 
Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma, had a total Indian population 
of 78,600.1 Schoolcraft, who had ample opportunity to ob- 
tain accurate information, gives the population in 1857 as 
82,176. Thus in spite of the great number of deaths among 
them during the years of removal and early settlement, the 
Five Tribes have so far become acclimated to their new 
home that they show a marked increase in population. The 
material, intellectual, and moral development of these Indian 
nations has been even more apparent. 

1 See estimate in Niles's Register, Vol. XL, p. 50. This estimate evi- 
dently omits the six thousand western Cherokees. I have included them 
in my figures: Cherokees, 21,000; Creeks, 20,000; Seminoles, 4000; 
Choctaws, 20,000 ; Chickasaws, 3600. 

60 



INDIAN GOVERNMENTS 6 1 

69. Cherokee Government. The establishment of stable 
and fairly satisfactory government in all the tribes had not a 
little to do with this progress. As early as 1820 the eastern 
Cherokees had divided their country into eight districts, and 
representation in the national council, which had been organ- 
ized in 1817 (sect. 41), depended upon elections from these 
districts. On the death of the chiefs Path Killer and Hicks 
a few years later, the tribe decided to hold a constitutional 
convention. This was called by a resolution of the national 
council, each district sending three delegates, so that the 
whole convention consisted of twenty-four members. Ross 
was one of the three delegates elected by the Chickamauga 
district. Under the constitution adopted, a legislative system 
was established consisting of two houses ^ : the committee, or 
upper house ; and the council, or lower house. The entire 
constitution would make scarcely three printed pages of the 
size found in this book. Although brief and crude, it was 
the first written constitution to be adopted by any tribe of 
American Indians, and marked a great step forward. 

70. Cherokee Constitution. After coming to Indian Terri- 
tory the Cherokees enlarged and remodeled their constitution. 
It then differed but little from the constitutions of most of 
the southern states. The executive department consisted of 
a principal chief and assistant principal chief, each elected 
for four years. In 1890 the principal chief was paid a salary 
of two thousand dollars per year. He was given the veto 
power, and one of the duties imposed was that of visiting 
every district in the nation at least once in two years. 
Among the chief's executive assistants was the National 
editor of the Chcivkce Advocate, who was elected biennially 

1 This in Cherokee was called the " Tsa-la-gi Ti-ni-la-wi-ga." 



62 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



by a joint convention of the two houses of the council. The 
legislative department consisted of a senate and council, the 
members of which were elected for two years. There were 
nine districts and eighteen senators, while the council con- 
sisted of forty members. Very few of the members of either 
house could, in 1890, read and speak both English and 
Cherokee. Therefore both senate and council employed in- 
terpreters, and all motions, reading of bills, petitions, and 

all other papers 
and all speeches 
had to be in both 
languages. If a 
member made a 
speech or motion 
in English, the 
interpreter trans- 
lated it into Cher- 
okee before any 
action was taken ; 
and if the speech 
or motion was in Cherokee, it was repeated in English be- 
fore being disposed of. The members received three dollars 
per day. The sessions began the first Monday in November, 
and the length of session for which pay could be drawn was 
fifty days. The judicial department consisted of a supreme 
court of three members. These judges were elected for a 
term of three years by a joint vote of the two houses of the 
legislature. The nation was also divided into three judicial 
circuits, in each of which a judge was elected by the people 
for a term of four years. There were nine district judges 
whose jurisdiction was limited to cases involving not over one 





N 


cmL. ^x 


fe 






^anT" & 




^^^H 



Cherokee Capitol, Tahlequah, erected in 1872 



INDIAN GOVERNMENTS 63 

hundred dollars. The Cherokee courts had no authority over 
persons who were not Cherokees. Such '' intruders " were 
tried, or rather were supposed to be tried, at Fort Smith, and 
except for the most flagrant offenses, they generally went 
absolutely free. Before 1888 there was no way to settle a 
civil suit between noncitizens, or between an Indian citizen 
and some one not amenable to tribal law, except to refer it 
to the Indian agent. 

71. Cherokee Political Organization. The Cherokees car- 
ried on spirited elections and organized considerable party 
machinery. The ''national" convention of each party ap- 
pointed three committeemen, or "head captains," for each 
district, each of whom had to appoint an additional member. 
It was their duty to keep in touch with the people of their 
district. They could call primaries or conventions or make a 
personal canvass to find out what the people desired. They 
were expected to learn the sentiments of their constituency 
and to voice them in the convention, which met to nominate 
candidates for principal chief and assistant chief. These 
twenty-seven ' ' head captains, ' ' with the additional twenty- 
seven committeemen appointed by them, constituted a 
national convention, which was held a full year before 
the election, generally near a spring and away from any 
town or house. The conventions of both parties were held 
the same day and about twelve miles apart. These were 
occasions of great moment, sometimes lasting four or five 
days. Barbecues were advertised, and thousands of men, 
women, and children came from all parts of the nation to 
assist in choosing the candidates. After the nominations had 
been made, interest in the campaign subsided until the next 
spring, when an energetic canvass would begin. The election 



64 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



was held on the first Monday in August. The voting was 
viva voce, and any male citizen eighteen years of age was a 
qualified voter. The election rolls were kept until the legis- 
lature met in November, when the vote was canvassed and the 
new chief magistrate of the nation was inducted into office. 

72. Creek Government. The Creeks, or Muskogees, were 
much slower than the Cherokees in developing an organ- 
ized government. Up to 1867, when the Creeks adopted 

their written con- 
stitution, they were 
ruled by a sort 
of feudal aristoc- 
racy. The head 
chief of each one 
of their clans or 
towns voted for 
the whole clan 
in the national 
council. There 
were two princi- 
pal chiefs, one from the "~ upper " and one from the " lower " 
towns, who held nominal sway over the entire nation if they 
chanced to be men of ability and could exact obedience from 
the numerous clans and chiefs under them. The new system 
provided for a principal chief, elected for four years. The 
upper house of the national council, or legislature, was styled 
the House of Kings and consisted of forty-eight members; 
the lower house had ninety-eight members and was termed the 
House of Warriors. The entire nation was divided into forty- 
eight clans, all of which were represented in these houses. 
Some of the clans were wholly negro. 




Creek Capitol, Okmulgee, erected in 1878 



INDIAN GOVERNMENTS 65 

73. The Creek Constitution. The entire Constitution 
and Laws adopted in 1867 appeared in a small pamphlet 
which would make about ten pages of this volume. The 
criminal code, definitions and all, consists of seven sections 
of from three to five lines each, covering two thirds of one 
page. No space was wasted in giving definitions, for every- 
body was supposed to know what constituted each offense. 
Thus Section 5 of the criminal code, which dealt with steal- 
ing, read as follows : Be it enacted : That should any person 
or persons be guilty of stealing, for the first offense he shall 
receive fifty lashes ; for the second offense, one hundred 
lashes ; and for the third offense he shall suffer death." The 
penalty was by shooting, irrespective of the amount stolen, 
and was often inflicted. ^ " When an Indian is condemned 
to death by shooting, he is given a period, usually thirty days, 
in which to go home and fix up his affairs. He goes without 
guard or control, arranges all his earthly matters, bids his 
friends and family good-by, returns at the time appointed, 
and is promptly shot." '-^ In each tribe there was a light- 
horse guard whose duty it was to assist in enforcing the law 
in the respective districts. In the event of a serious disturb- 
ance, the principal chief could summon these light-horse 
guards and, placing himself in command, would find himself 
at the head of a considerable company. Federal soldiers were 
also generally quartered sufficiently near to be able to lend 
their presence for law and order if an insurrection took place. 

1 Beadle, J. IL, The Undeveloped West, or Five Years in the Territories 
(Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis. Copyright, 1873), PP- 386-388. 
It would be well for the instructor to point out the minute distinctions of 
our code, there being possibly a dozen offenses, with varying punishments, 
all of which might be termed " stealing." 

2 Extra Census Bulletin, "The Five Civilized Tribes" (Washington, 
1894), p. 9- 



66 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

74. Insurrection of Stupid Sands. This is just what did 
occur in 1 86/ when the new Creek system was put into effect. 
Under the old aboriginal system each of the two head chiefs 
was surrounded by numerous minor officials. There were 
civil chiefs and war chiefs and a vast multitude of office- 
holders. " Two thirds of the old dignitaries had to go out of 
office and those who failed of election" were much disgusted. 
One of them, an archplotter named Stupid Sands (Ok-ta-ha- 
pars-har-go), raised a company of several hundred, appeared 
at the council ground on inauguration day, declared in favor 
of the old system, and announced his intention of breaking 
up the council by force. Samuel Checota, the chief elect, at 
once sent away the women and children, called out his sup- 
porters, and soon had Sands outnumbered. Sands then ap- 
pealed to the freedmen, but they failed to respond. Major 
Lyon, the Creek agent, succeeded in reconciling most of the 
tribe to the new government. In 1871 Sands was again a 
candidate for principal chief against Checota and was over- 
whelmingly defeated. He died in 1873. Ten years later, in 
1882, we find Spiechee (Is-par-hec-har) raising the flag of 
revolt against Checota. He, too, represented the full bloods or 
reactionary Indians. Pleasant Porter was put in command of 
the national forces and drove Spiechee down to the Wichita 
agency in the vicinity of Anadarko. Meanwhile, the military 
authorities interfered and quiet was restored. In 1895 Spie- 
chee was chosen principal chief, and for a time the full-blood 
element was in control of the tribe. 

75. Crazy Snake. The Crazy Snake (Chitto Harjo) insur- 
rections of 1 90 1 and 1909 are but other outcroppings of 
this century-old conflict between the progressives and the 
reactionary full bloods of the Creek nation. Crazy Snake 



INDIAN GOVERNMENTS 67 

fled from the state militia in 1909 and is still at large (March, 
1910).^ The large infusion of negro blood in the Creek tribe 
has prevented intermarriage with the whites, and thus has 
tended to keep the Muskogees from advancing as rapidly as 
they probably would have done, had this not been the case. 
Similar conditions among the Seminoles has also been a 
handicap to their progress. 

76. Seminoles long incorporated with the Creeks. We 
have seen (sect. 66) that the Seminoles at first settled 
among the Creeks, the intention being to make them an 
integral part of the Muskogee nation. But the two tribes 
could not get along well together, and after the treaty of 
1856 the Seminoles had a government of their own, which, 
however, was hardly more than the old aboriginal tribal sys- 
tem to which they were accustomed in Florida. It was ex- 
tremely primitive and followed closely the old feudal clan 
system of the early Creeks and Seminoles. After the Civil 
War a government somewhat more highly organized was es- 
tablished. It consisted of a principal chief, second chief, 
treasurer, and superintendent of schools, all elected by the 
people. The council, or legislature, consisted of a single house 
of fourteen clan chiefs, which acted as judicial authority of 
the nation. As late as 1894 the Seminoles had no published 
laws, and there were but few records of their legislative or 

1 The so-called Crazy Snake uprisings in the Creek nation in igoi and 
1909 were political protests of some of the full-blood or reactionary Creeks 
at the methods of the Creek government. Chitto Harjo, or Crazy Snake, 
was proclaimed chief by these dissatisfied Indians. Sensation-hunting 
newspaper reporters called this a war and telegraphed it right and left. 
In 1909 the same dissatisfied full bloods protected some of Crazy Snake's 
lawless followers, and again the newspaper reporters proclaimed another 
war. Troops were sent to the Creek nation each time, but there seems to 
have been little need of them. 



68 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

judicial proceedings. What laws they had were " written in 
a book preserved by the chief," and respective crimes and 
punishments were identical with those of their neighbors and 
kinsmen, the Creeks, except that the principal chief was 
denied the pardoning power. The chief and the treasurer 
practically controlled all the business of the tribe, They 
handled all the stores and supplied the people with merchan- 
dise. This business was carried on for the most part without 
money, due bills on the store at Wewoka serving in its stead. ^ 
According to the special agent, William H. Ward, ''there 
were but few white people among them" in 1890. Negroes, 
with whom many Indians intermarried, constituted a con- 
siderable part of the nation. These "adopted freedmen," 
he averred, "as in the Creek nation, enjoyed every right of 
native-born Indians." 

77. The Choctaw Constitution. In the treaty of Dancing 
Rabbit Creek it was provided that the- Choctaws should have 
either four principal chiefs, each to receive two hundred and 
fifty dollars per year from the government, or one principal 
chief, whose salary should be five hundred dollars per year. 
Naturally they chose the former plan, since it gave them more 
offices and more money. Thus when the first Choctaw consti- 
tution was adopted in 1842, the country was divided into four 
districts. The Chickasaws composed one of these districts, 
they being assigned to the country south and west of the 
Washita River. Each district elected for four years a chief 
who was eligible for only two terms, these four chiefs consti- 
tuting the executive department of the nation. If they re- 
jected a bill passed by the council, it could be enacted over 

1 Extra Census Bulletin, " The Five Civilized Tribes " (Washington, 
1894), pp. 69-70. 



INDIAN GOVERNMENTS 69 

their veto by a two-thirds vote. This council, which con- 
sisted of forty members elected annually, assembled the first 
Monday in each October, and, Schoolcraft tells us,^ its delib- 
erations were carried on with the utmost decorum. Each 
chief delivered a message in person, and recommended such 
laws as he believed to be for the interest of the people. The 
business was transacted in a large, commodious council 
house, and the session lasted from ten to fifteen days. The 
judicial system of the Choctaws was likewise peculiar. The 
judges were nominated by the chiefs of the district over which 
they were to preside. Trial by jury was guaranteed in capital 
offenses, but there was no law for the collection of debts. 
Schoolcraft comments on the fact that debts were generally 
paid, however, and also adds that travel was safe in the 
Choctaw nation. After the withdrawal of the Chickasaws, the 
Choctaws in 1857 readjusted their constitution; modeling it 
after that of Mississippi. 

78. The Chickasaws object to Choctaw Rule. It will be re- 
membered that the Chickasaws sold outright their country in 
Mississippi to the government (sect. 62). Their commission- 
ers in 1837 negotiated a treaty for a new home with the Choc- 
taws at Doaksville, near Fort Towson. In this treaty it was 
stipulated that for the consideration of five hundred and thirty 
thousand dollars the Choctaws were to cede to the Chickasaws 
a district in the western portion of their country, and were 
to allow them to "participate jointly with the Choctaws in 
the tribal government, with equal rights and privileges." 
The land was to be held in common by both, but each tribe 
reserved control of its own funds invested at Washington. 
Soon a dispute arose as to what constituted '' equal rights 

1 Schoolcraft, History of the Indian Tribes of the United States, p. 528. 



70 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



and privileges." The Chickasaws contended that they were 
to have exactly as many delegates in the tribal council as the 
Choctaws, while the latter tribe asserted that " equal rights " 
meant that the Chickasaws were to be allowed representation 
according to their population. At the time the Chickasaws 
moved west almost seven hundred of them died from smallpox, 
and it did not seem just to the larger tribe that a scant three 
thousand Chickasaws should exercise equal authority with 

twenty-one thou- 
sand Choctaws. 
On the other 
hand the Chicka- 
saws found them- 
selves a powerless 
minority. . Out- 
numbered by the 
Choctaws, the lat- 
ter controlled na- 
tional affairs and 
most of the offices. 
There was the rub with the Chickasaws. Indians have an 
insatiable craving for office : no Indian is quite happy without 
one. Here were the Chickasaws with the largest per capita 
tribal fund and without any tribal government or authority. 
"The Chickasaws, feeling themselves aggrieved, appealed to 
the President of the United States. It was then arranged, 
June 22, 1855, that on paying the Choctaws an additional 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the Chickasaws were 
to obtain complete separation from the larger tribe and have 
political control of their district." But citizens of either tribe 
had the right to settle within the borders of the other, and 




Chickasaw Capitol, Tishomingo, erected in li 



INDIAN GOVERNMENTS 7 1 

this privilege was held till the lands were allotted. It is be- 
cause of this provision that we find Choctaws domiciled in 
the Chickasaw nation, and vice versa. In the same treaty the 
federal government leased all the Choctaw and Chickasaw 
country west of the 98th meridian. This Leased District was 
to be used " for the permanent settlement of the Wichita and 
such other tribes " as the government desired to locate there 
(see map, p. 137). 

79. The Chickasaw Constitution. In 1857 the Chickasaws 
adopted a constitution and tribal laws. The young man who 
was sent to Texas with the documents to have them printed, 
disappeared, and with him the only copy of the Chickasaw 
statutes in existence. This necessitated an extra session of 
the national legislature to reenact the lost laws.^ Under the 
Chickasaw system the governor or principal chief was elected 
for a two-year term, and he could not hold office more than four 
years in any six. The nation was divided into four countries, 
— Pontotoc, Pickens, Tishomingo, and Panola ; each country 
was entitled to three senators and five representatives, 
which gave a total of twelve in the upper house and twenty 
in the lower house. The document varies little from that of 
similar instruments of the southern states, except that males 
nineteen years of age were qualified electors and the voting 
was done viva voce. Each elector appeared at the polling place 
on election day and announced whom he was for. The clerks 
of election kept a record of the vote, much as we do now.^ 

80. The Government of Agency Indians. The govern- 
ment of those reservation Indians not adopted into one of 

1 Thoburn, J. B., and Holcomb, I. M., History of Oklahoma (San 
Francisco, 1908), p. 67, note. 

2 Extra Census Bulletin (V^ashington, 1894), p. 52. 



72 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

the Civilized Tribes was, and is, a peculiar dual system, partly 
under the authority of a tribal chief and partly under the con- 
trol of a federal agent. The chief sometimes obtains his posi- 
tion by inheritance, sometimes by election, but the government 
always undertakes to see to it that the head chief recognized by 
the United States is a man friendly to the federal government 
and not opposed to progress and education. In important mat- 
ters a council of the tribe is held, but usually the agent directs 
affairs through the chief. Indian police are appointed, who 
receive a small salary. They see that the agents' authority is 
maintained. Gradually the customs of civilized society are 
being introduced into the tribe, but even yet the Indian laws 
prevail in many things ; polygamy is allowed,^ and the Indian 
laws of marriage and divorce are recognized in the courts. 
However, as soon as an Indian reservation is allotted, the 
tribal law no longer holds, and, as far as possible, local statutes 
are applied to the Indians. 

1 Indians can no longer marry more than one wife at a time, but those 
already living in polygamy have not been disturbed. 



CHAPTER IX 
PROGRESS OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES 

81. Civilization a Slow Growth. It takes more than a half 
century to make civihzecl men of savages. The government 
of the Five Civihzed Tribes, discussed in the preceding chap- 
ter, was far from perfect. White men who visited Indian Ter- 
ritory were prone to point out that mismanagement, graft, and 
murder existed in these so-called " national governments." 
While this was true, yet we should remember that not a half 
century before these tribesmen were skin-clad savages, who 
scalped their enemies and burned their prisoners at the stake. 
When we remember that these red Indians progressed farther 
in fifty years than our Anglo-Saxon ancestors advanced in 
possibly twenty centuries, we must conclude that their de- 
velopment at the time of the Civil War was little short of 
marvelous. 

82. Religious Progress. Progress in civilization, it is true, 
was extremely rapid in the Five Nations. This was due to 
the fact that these Indians had exceptional opportunities. 
Hundreds of God-fearing men and women went among 
them, and devoted their lives to the moral and intellectual 
advancement of their red brothers. We have seen with 
what devotion they labored : two of them even preferring 
to be entombed in the Georgia penitentiary rather than for- 
sake the Cherokees in the day of adversity (sect. 53). The 
Cherokees and Creeks were also fortunate in having men 
of character early marry into the tribes. The influence of 

7Z 



74 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



one such man as John Ross could not but be a force for 
good throughout the entire nation. Even the hard treatment 
to which these tribes were subjected by the southeastern 
states did not destroy the rehgious influence of the white 
missionaries. In the Cherol<ee nation in 185 1 there was a 
Bible society at Tahlequah, with branches in each district, 




Indian Territory in 1853 

and twelve churches. The Reverend C. Kingsbury, a mis- 
sionary among the Choctaws for over forty years, asserted 
that when he came to that tribe " witchcraft was practiced, 
and every form of superstition and vice was abundant." In 
1856 he reported that there were fifteen old-school Presby- 
terian churches with twelve ministers and a membership of 
sixteen hundred and sixty full-blood Choctaws. The Chicka- 
saws seem to have been for long years outside the sphere of 



PROGRESS OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES 75 

missionary endeavors, and, like the Seminoles, their marked 
development followed rather than preceded the reconstruc- 
tion period (see Chap. XIV). But it was left to one of the 
minor tribes, the Delawares, which had been incorporated as 
a portion of the Cherokee nation in 1867, to produce pos- 
sibly the most famous religious teachers of Indian blood. 

83. Chief Charles Journey cake. For over a generation 
Charles Journey cake was head chief of the Delawares. His 
mother, Sally Journey cake, was already a consistent Christian 
when the Delawares were forced out of Ohio. The youth 
Charles, when but twelve years of age, fell under the influ- 
ence of a famous Baptist missionary, the Reverend Isaac 
McCoy (sect. 39). This was in 1829, when the tribe first 
arrived in Kansas. It is not surprising that with such a 
mother and teacher young Journeycake became a zealous 
Christian. The sojourn of most of the tribes in Kansas was 
a period of debauchery and degeneration : their old life was 
gone ; unprotected by the government, whisky peddlers and 
frontier roughs made the reservation Indians of Kansas veri- 
table vagabonds. Not so the Delawares. While it was a try- 
ing ordeal, — this change from hunter to agricultural life, — 
yet the tribe so prospered under Journeycake's administration 
that the year after the Civil War, in spite of depletion by 
army service and other causes of weakening and discourage- 
ment, the Delawares '' raised 72,000 bushels of grain, 13,000 
bushels of potatoes, and owned 5,000 head of cattle." The 
move to the Cherokee nation was made because it was felt that 
the tribe would be demoralized by the tide of immigration 
that set toward Kansas after the war. In the Territory the 
Delawares were without an ordained minister, so, when fifty- 
two years of age (1871), Chief Journeycake was regularly 



76 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

ordained as pastor of the Delaware Baptist Church. Even 
at this mature age he was spared to his tribe twenty-two years 
longer. All his life he was a powerful force for the spiritual 
and material regeneration of the Indians with whom he came 
in contact. 1 

84. Missionaries aid Education. The church of the mis- 
sionary was often preceded, and always immediately followed, 
by the mission school. Here the church made the greatest 
impression on the aborigines. The Indian was not only in- 
structed in books but in crafts and industries. The young 
men were taught how to plow and to farm and how to suc- 
ceed with their herds of cattle and horses. Indian girls were 
instructed in cooking, weaving, dressmaking, and the various 
duties of a neat and successful housewife. So in a measure 
the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes were prepared to 
settle down and cease their hunter life at the time the game 
disappeared. Moreover, in President Grant's administration, 
the federal government, after a century of mismanagement, 
adopted this policy of educating industrially the Indians so 
that they might support themselves and not depend entirely 
upon the rations and annuities of the Indian agents. Most 
of the bitter Indian wars that have marked with blood the 
pages of American history were due to the policy of the gov- 
ernment in forcing the red men upon reservations where they 
could not obtain a living by hunting, and then neglecting to 
teach them how to farm, and at the same time often failing 
to provide them with food. A starving Indian differs little 
from a starving white man ; either, under such circumstances, 

1 Mitchell, Rev. S. H., The Indian Chief, Journeycake (Philadelphia, 
1895). See also Extra Census Bulletin, " Five CiviHzed Tribes " (Wash- 
ington, 1894). Chief Journeycake was born in Ohio, December 17,- 1817, 
and died in Indian Territory, January 3, 1894. 



PROGRESS OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES ^^ 

would be apt to go on the warpath. It is not to be doubted 
that it was the persistent efforts of the missionaries that re- 
strained four of the Five Civihzed Tribes from resorting to 
war and thus inviting their own destruction at the time of 
their forced removal west of the Mississippi. Long before 
their emigration mission schools had been established in all 
the tribes but the Seminoles. 

The American Indian takes readily to education. He early 
realized that by this means alone he could defend himself 
against the encroachments of the whites. As early as 1803 
the Reverend Gideon Blackburn, a Presbyterian from Vir- 
ginia, had established a mission school among the Cherokees. 
In November, 1825, the Choctaw chief, Peter P. Pitchlynn, 
took twenty-one youths of that tribe to Blue Springs, Ken- 
tucky, to attend a school conducted by Colonel Richard M. 
Johnson. 1 From time to time in Niles's " Register " we find 
reference to a Choctaw or a Cherokee who had subscribed 
for a certain paper. It was always counted an incident of 
sufficient importance to be given^editorial mention. Indeed, a 
willingness to spend money in this way is a certain indication 
among the Indians of advancing civilization. 

85. Tribal Schools. Each tribe, on its removal to Indian 
Territory, had its tribal funds perceptibly augmented. Large 
sums of money, the interest of which went to support the 
tribal governments, were kept on deposit at Washington. 
It is evident that if the Indians of the Civilized Tribes had 
been compelled to tax themselves to support their schools, 

1 This is the same Colonel Johnson who was famous for having killed 
Tecumseh at the battle of the Thames, and was later elected Vice President 
in Van Buren's administration. wSee Niles's Register, Vol. XXIX, p. 226. 
Also Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies ; Thwaites's Western Travels, Vol. 
XX, p. 306, note. 



78 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



there would have been no taxes and no schools.^ Deficient 
as these schools were, they were yet an evidence of progress 
and bore testimony to the influence the missionaries had in 
tribal councils. Every one of the Civilized Tribes voted large 
sums for education, and from 1850 no child born in any of 




Bloomfield Academy, tJryan County, a Typical Boarding School of 
the Five Civilized Tribes. This is a Chickasaw Institution 



the Civilized Tribes was obliged to be illiterate. In 185 1 the 
Cherokees supported twenty-two primary schools, and had 

1 After 1898, when towns were incorporated in Indian Territory under 
Arkansas law, public schools supported by taxation were then first estab- 
lished (see Abbott's Oklahoma School Civics, sects. 55, 57). No later than 
1908 we have heard an intermarried Chickasaw, whose allotment, along 
with those of his wife and children, was possibly worth fifty thousand dol- 
lars, complain bitterly that he should now have to pay taxes after having 
lived here twenty years without ever having paid a cent. 



PROGRESS OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES 



79 



just erected two large buildings for male and female semi- 
naries. A newspaper was maintained at public expense, and 
nearly one thousand boys and girls were in daily attendance 
at the public schools. The Choctaw government in 1857 
contributed fifty thousand dollars to the support of six board- 
ing schools, in which three hundred and twenty pupils re- 
ceived instruction. ''As a body the Chickasaws did not 
advance as rapidly as the Choctaws, their large annuities 
encouraged idleness and improvidence. . . . Their first school 
was not established until 1851."! A liberal policy toward 
intermarried whites and stock raisers tended toward educa- 
tional advancement in both the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes, 
through the efforts of these white men. Before the Civil War 
the Creeks and Seminoles had no organized governments, 
and educational interests seem to have been wholly in the 
hands of the churches that conducted missions among them. 
In 1872, five years after the adoption of the Creek constitu- 
tion (sect. 73), there were thirty-three tribal schools with 
seven hundred and sixty pupils in attendance, and the Semi- 
noles with four schools had an enrollment of one hundred and 
sixty-nine pupils. This bespeaks not a little interest in edu- 
cation, when we bear in mind the havoc the dissensions of 
the Civil War wrought in both these tribes.^ 

1 Extra Census Bulletin, " Five Civilized Tribes " (Washington, 1894), 
p. 30. 



2 The report 


of Francis A 


. Walker for 


1872 


follows : 






Population 


Schools 


Scholars 


Choctaws 

Chickasaws 


16,000 
6,000 

12,295 
2,398 

16,300 


36 
II 
33 

4 
60 


819 
376 
760 
169 


Creeks 

Seminoles 

Cherokees 



8o 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



86. Education in the Minor Tribes. The meager educa- 
tional advantages offered members of the minor tribes pre- 
vious to the Civil War were entirely the result of voluntary 
efforts of the missionaries. It was not until within the 
last twenty years that the federal government saw to it that 
every child of Indian blood was offered adequate educa- 
tional advantages. This is done chiefly through an extensive 

system of government boarding 
schools (see Abbott's ''Oklahoma 
Civics," pp. 30-32). 

87. Sequoyah. Not a little of 
the progress among the Chero- 
kees was due to the ingenious 
invention of an alphabet by a 
half-blooded Cherokee, Sequoyah, 
By means of this device the Cher- 
okees could learn to read and 
write their own language almost 
without effort. Sequoyah, whose 
other name was George Guess, 
was the son of a German trader 
by a Cherokee mother, and was 
probably born in 1 760. As a boy he became aware that the 
white men had a system of making marks that could be un- 
derstood at a glance. '' He requested an educated half-breed, 
named Charles Hicks, to write his name, which being done, 
he made a die containing a facsimile of the word, which he 
stamped upon all the articles fabricated by his mechanical 
genius." Later young Guess fell into idle and dissipated 
ways, but " in the year 1820, while on a visit to some friends 
in a Cherokee village, he listened to a conversation on the 




Sequoyah (George Guess), 

Inventor of the Cherokee 

Alphabet 



PROGRESS OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES 8 1 

art of writing, which seems ahvays to have been the subject 
of great curiosity among the Indians. Sequoyah remarked 
that he did not regard the art as so very extraordinary, and 
beheved he could invent a plan by w^hich the red man might 
do the same thing." ^ He immediately set to work, and, in 
spite of the ridicule of his neighbors, successfully completed 
the invention. 

88. Cherokee Alphabet. It happened that the Cherokee 
dialect was composed of but eighty-five sounds or syllables. 
Sequoyah observed this and devised a character for each one 
of these sounds. So practical was his device, that a Cherokee 
could read as soon as he learned his alphabet. It is said that 
a clever boy could " thus be taught to read in a single day."^ 
And Albert Gallatin wrote in 1836 that Sequoyah "was en- 
abled to teach within three weeks every Cherokee old or 
young, who desired it, how to write his own language." We 
have seen that as early as 1828 Elias Boudinot was publish- 
ing a Cherokee paper at New Ec-ho-ta in these characters 
(sect. 70), and that the Cherokee Advocate, afterwards estab- 
lished at Tahlequah, was printed half in English and half in 
the native characters of Sequoyah. The Creeks and Choctaws 
likewise had a written language, but the system of writing 
was devised by missionaries and not by a native. The Semi- 
nole and Chickasaw, being but slight modifications respec- 
tively of the Creek and Choctaw, seem never to have been 
systematized into a written language. 

89. Sequoyah Head Chief of Western Cherokees. In 1820 
Guess visited the western Cherokees in Arkansas Territory 

1 North Avierican Reviezv, quoted by Jackson, Century of Dishonor, p. 404. 

2 The Sattirday Magazine (London, April, 1842), quoted in Jackson's Cen- 
tury of Dishonor, p. 405. Also see report of Albert Gallatin, quoted in 
Extra Census Bulletin," Five Civilized Tribes" (Washington, 1894), p. 38- 



82 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

and soon introduced the art, so that on his return home a 
correspondence was opened in the Cherokee language be- 
tween the two branches of the nation. In 1823 he was voted 
a silver medal by the general council of the tribe, and in 
1872 we find the united tribe in the Indian Territory paying 
his widow an annual pension of three hundred dollars.^ Prob- 
ably as early as 1823 he joined the western Cherokees and 
was chief of the Old Settlers in 1 838-1 839, at the time of 
the migration of the eastern division of the tribe. Disgusted 
at the turn affairs took when the Ross faction assumed con- 
trol of the nation, he went farther west and died in New 
Mexico, probably in 1844. He never learned to speak or 
understand English, and his name appears on the Act of 
Union of 1838 signed, '' George Guess, his (x) mark." 

90. Security of Life and Property in the Indian Territory. 
The progress of these Indian governments can best be shown 
by the security of life and property within the limits of the 
Five Civilized Tribes. Travel was as secure in this region, 
as far as the Indians were concerned, as in the streets of 
Washington City. It was the renegade white who was the 
chief author of mischief when it occurred. Each of the tribes 
had strict laws against the introduction of liquor. Invari- 
ably it was lawless whites or half-breeds who engaged in 
this illicit commerce. The Indian, crazed with bad whisky, 
would then commit the gross offense that never would have 
occurred had he not been thus insnared. "As a people," 
wrote Schoolcraft in 1857, "the Indians are as temperate 
and sober as an average community in the states." Wash- 
ington Irving gives us a striking picture of one of these 
white renegades who had taken up his residence in the Indian 

1 Beadle, J. H., The Undeveloped West, p. 423. 



PROGRESS OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES 83 

country against the will. of the lawful owners of the land. 
He is a fair sample of these white intruders : 

''On the verge of the wilderness we paused to inquire our way at a 
log house, owned by a white settler or squatter, a tall raw-boned old 
fellow, with red hair, a lank lantern visage, and an inveterate habit of 
winking with one eye, as if everything he said was of knowing import. 
He was in a towering passion. One of his horses was missing ; he was 
sure it had been stolen in the night by a straggling party of Osages en- 
camped in a neighboring swamp ; but he would have satisfaction ! . . . 
While we were holding a parley with him on the slope of the hill, we de- 
scried an Osage on horseback issuing out of a skirt of wood about half 
a mile off, and leading a horse by halter. The latter was immediately 
recognized by our hard-winking friend as the steed of which he was in 
quest. ... I had expected to witness an expression of gratitude on the 
part of our hard-favored cavalier, but to my surprise the old fellow broke 
out into a furious passion. He declared that the Indian had carried off 
his horse in the night, with the intention of bringing him home in the 
morning, and claiming a reward for finding him ; a common practice, as 
he affirmed, among the Indians. He was therefore for tying the young 
Indian to a tree and giving him a sound lashing ; and was quite sur- 
prised at the burst of indignation which this novel mode of requiting a 
service drew from us. Such however is too often the administration of 
law on the frontier. ... In this way, I am convinced, are occasioned 
many of those heart-burnings and resentments among the Indians, which 
lead to retaliation and end in Indian wars."" ^ 

91 . How the Civilized Indians Lived. The Civilized Tribes 
no longer used tents or skin-covered poles for houses when 
they first came to what is now the state of Oklahoma. For 
the most part they lived in isolated log cabins near springs or 
streams. There were no cities or towns worthy of the name 
in the entire territory. Tahlequah, the capital of the Chero- 
kees, and Doaksville, within a mile of Fort Towson, were 
probably the most like cities previous to the Civil War. 
Neither were more than straggling, unincorporated villages 

1 Irving, Tour of the Prairies, p. 2. 



84 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

of possibly three hundred inhabitants. Some of the more 
progressive Indians, especially those with white blood, fenced 
great fields and farmed extensively. But the more backward 
tribesmen dwelt in the rough places and raised barely enough 
to supply their meager wants. The Indians by nature seem 
averse to physical labor. As far as we know, the only full- 
blood Indians in Oklahoma who to-day perform hard manual 
labor from one month's end to another are the Apache pris- 
oners of war, and they do so only because they are compelled 
to. It was a natural development that when game became 
scarce the Indians, having been hunters, should become 
herdsmen rather than farmers. Up to the time of the Civil 
War, which is a natural line of demarcation here, as else- 
where in the South, most of the tribesmen possessed large 
herds of horses and cattle. 

92. The Indian's Home. Among the Civilized Tribes the 
usual Indian home was a poorly chinked log cabin, with dirt 
floor and log chimney lined with clay. There were a few of 
the most necessary kitchen utensils, a stool or two, possibly 
a chair, and a rifle on the wall. Behind the house there was 
usually a lot made of poles and a crib of like construction, 
and, if the Indian owner of the domicile was especially care- 
ful of his stock, a lean-to barn. A field fenced with rails 
gave evidence that agriculture was not one of the entirely 
unknown arts. Here sufficient corn was raised to supply the 
family with hominy, and little cotton was produced and woven 
into cloth. But in some ways advancing civilization seemed 
rather to arrest the Indian's development than to promote it. 
As soon as cloth could be obtained in exchange for horses, 
the loom and its uses were forgotten. Thousands of head of 
cattle and hogs, which, with ponies, constituted the Indians' 



PROGRESS OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES 85 

chief wealth, ran at large throughout the Indian country. 
Such was the average Indian home before, and indeed long 
after, the Civil War. To be sure, there were progressive In- 
dians, just as there were progressive white men. The homes 
of these Indians would challenge comparison with those of 
any other men in like circumstances. Along Red River in 
the Choctaw nation, and in some valleys of the Cherokee and 
Creek nations, were large and productive plantations. 

93. Social Disposition of Indians. Since the Indians were 
not hampered by zealous striving for a livelihood like white 
men, but were contented with the meager existence afforded 
by their annuities and their perfunctory efforts at farming and 
stock raising, they had ample time for amusements. Naturally 
gregarious, they were, and still are, persistent visitors. Even 
to-day in western Oklahoma, among the less advanced Plains 
Indians upon whose hands time hangs heavily, periodical 
visitations are the chief summer diversion. Everything a 
home afforded was set before the numerous company of vis- 
iting men, women, children, and dogs on its arrival at a set- 
tlement. When the provender at one domicile was exhausted, 
the entire company would strike camp to prolong the visit 
with other kin or acquaintances. 

94. Indian Dances. When a company of Indians has as- 
sembled, the principal entertainment is dancing. If the Indians 
are "civilized," the squeaking violin will mark the cadence of 
the step ; if they still cling to the blanket and tepee, the 
monotonous beating of a tom-tom will measure the diapason 
of the dance. 1 The ceremonial dances of the tribes are still 

1 Lanchet, Joseph, " Diary of a Young French Immigrant," Siiinn''s Okla- 
homa Magazine (July, 1909), p. 49. In speaking of the Pottawatomies in 1889 
he says, " A few young ladies can play on the piano, ... a few young men 
can also play on the violin, and dancing parties are of frequent occurrence." 



86 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

numerous. The war dance, long since relegated to the past, 
has given place to the green-corn dance, the wedding dance, 
or some other dance peculiar to one of the tribes. 

95. The ** Busk.'' Of these dances none was more inter- 
esting than the ''busk," or green-corn dance, of the Creeks. 
Some such harvest celebration is found among all Indian 
tribes. As they become civilized the festivities take on white 
men's conventions, but the dance is still retained in some 
form or other. 

The people assemble in a gala attire, and at daybreak the principal 
medicine man, clad in full regalia of his office, repairs to the square and 
proceeds with much labor to kindle a new fire by the friction of two dry 
sticks, after which a young man enters from each corner of the square, 
bearing a stick of wood. They approach with much reverence, placing 
the ends of the sticks to the fire in a manner corresponding to the ends 
of the compass. The fire being sufficiently kindled, four other young 
men enter in a like manner, each bearing an ear of green corn, which 
the medicine man also places with much reverence upon the blaze. After 
it is consumed, four gayly dressed men enter, each bearing some new 
snakeroot, a portion of which the medicine man likewise consigns to 
the flames, the. balance being at once cooked for use. During these 
formalities the medicine man is continually muttering some unintelligi- 
ble jargon, which the superstitious believe is a communication with the 
Great Spirit. This ceremony over, the faithful, assembled around the~ 
square, proceed to indulge in potions of a decoction of snakeroot, 
which to a civilized stomach is anything but pleasant. The new fire is 
then distributed among the people outside the square for general use, 
and women are permitted to take it to their houses and camps, which 
have been decorated for its reception, all the old fire having been previ- 
ously extinguished and ashes swept carefully away. During this time 
the men keep inside the square, and no woman is permitted to enter it. 
The second and third days are devoted to fasting, drinking medicine, 
sleeping, or such amusements as the votaries may elect. Both men and 
women rigidly abstain from food. To eat salt is blasphemy. On the 
fourth day all of the people assemble inside of the square, — men, women, 
and children promiscuously, — and the day is devoted to feasting and 



PROGRESS OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES Sj 

rejoicing. Large quantities of green corn and other provisions are collected 
and cooked by the women over the new fire. An ox is barbecued and 
given to the public. . . . The evening is spent in dancing around the 
new fire and the " busk " is ended. ^ 

96. Indian Ball. George Catlin (sect. 29) and others give 
most interesting accounts of Indian ball games, in which the 
young men participated with much zest. Goals were erected 
like those used in football. Short, tough sticks with rawhide 
cups or spoons were used for throwing and carrying the ball, 
which was small and hard. With such a club in each hand 
the players sought to force the ball through their opponents' 
goal. Apparently about the only rule observed was that the 
ball could not be touched with the hands, for a contestant 
would not hesitate to strike an opponent's arm as he ran with 
the ball, or, using both clubs, he would pinch another player 
until blood came. The number of players on a side varied 
from a dozen to one hundred. They played with such reck- 
less zeal that a game was seldom finished without some one 
being seriously hurt, and deaths among the contestants were 
not uncommon. 

1 Extra Census Bulletin, " The Five Civilized Tribes " (Washington, 
1894), p. 66. 



CHAPTER X 

EARLY MILITARY HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

97. Early Indian Wars. Previous to the Civil War there 
were no important battles fought in Oklahoma. We have 
seen (Chap. I) that in 1541 the Spanish crossed the state 
from south to north, but, so far as we know, Coronado had 
no difficulty with the Indians of the plains. The French, 
who next invaded the Mississippi Valley, showed a peculiar 
facility in getting along peaceably with the Indians, and dur- 
ing the century that they were in possession of the country 
now known as Oklahoma, we fail to find the record of a 
single conflict. But the various Indian tribes that hunted 
here had many a bloody skirmish with one another. It is 
impossible to explain the bitter hatreds and tribal antip- 
athies that instigated these petty wars. The chances were 
that if two hunting parties from different tribes met upon 
the prairie, the pursuit of game was immediately stopped 
and fighting was begun. But the bones that bleached upon 
the plains have long since disappeared, and no record is left 
of these countless skirmishes, 

98. Battle of Claremore Mound. Naturally the Plains 
Indians, who had long regarded the Arkansas and Canadian 
valleys as their individual hunting grounds, resented the 
intrusion of the Five Civilized Tribes. From the time when 
the Choctaws, Creeks, and Cherokees began to arrive in 
their new home, the Plains Indians, especially the Osages, 
waged relentless war upon them. The Cherokees finally 

88 



EARLY MILITARY HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 89 

gave the Osages a decisive defeat at Claremore Mound in 
June, 18 1 8. This battle was fought near the present city of 
Claremore in Rogers County. The engagement takes its 
name from the famous Osage chief Clermont, or Claremore, 
who commanded the Osages in the battle and there lost his 
life (sects. 17, 19). The Cherokee chief was Captain Dutch 
(Tarche). 

99. Santa Fe TraiL There were numerous other struggles 
between the Five Nations and their less civilized brothers, 
but soon the coming of the white men in considerable num- 
bers led the Plains Indians to direct their attacks chiefly upon 
them. The Santa Fe Trail, first used in 1822, was estab- 
lished by Congress in 1825 and was actually marked out in 
1832. By this time a considerable trade had grown up with 
the Spanish in New Mexico, and fur trading with the 
Indians had developed into a profitable business. This natu- 
rally brought many white men into Oklahoma, for while the 
Santa Fe Trail ^ merely crossed the western portion of No 
Man's Land, in what are now Texas and Cimarron counties, 
yet men from the Spanish possessions on the Rio Grande 
would sometimes cut across Oklahoma in returning to the 
states. Albert Pike, in 1832, made such a trip (sect. 108). 
These frontiersmen were often rough characters. Frequently 
they failed to treat the Indians properly. They hunted a 
great deal and thus took from the Plains Indians almost 
their only source of food supply. It is not surprising, there- 
fore, that the Indians resented their intrusion. In 1847 it 
was reported that no less than forty-seven persons had been 

1 See Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, chap, i; Thwaites's Early 
Western Travels, Vol. XIX, p. 173, in which may be found an interesting 
account of the Santa Fe Trail. 



90 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

killed by Indians in raids on the Santa Fe Trail. Three 
hundred and thirty wagons had been destroyed, and sixty-five 
hundred head of horses, mules, and oxen had been killed 
or stolen. 

100. Van Dorn attacks the Comanches. Many were the 
expeditions sent out and councils held in the region extend- 
ing from Texas to the Dakotas, to put an end to these clashes 
between whites and Indians. Probably the most important 
expedition of this character in Oklahoma was that of Major 
Earl Van Dorn (sect. 1 18), who in 1858 was sent against the 
turbulent Comanches and Kiowas. He established a camp 
on Otter Creek ^ near the Wichita Mountains, where these 
tribes had been located by the government. The Wichitas 
induced a large number of Comanches to go with them to 
their camp for a peace council. Major Van Dorn afterwards 
asserted that he knew nothing of their approach, nor what 
they were there for. However, at a time when the Indians 
were wholly unaware of danger (October i, 1858) he fell 
upon them and killed a large number of Comanches. It 
must have looked like wanton murder to the Comanches.^ 
The soldiers also laid waste the fields of the Wichitas and 
burned their grass tepees. The Comanches felt that they 
had been betrayed by the Wichitas, and became their bitter 
enemies. The unfortunate Wichitas, with their homes burned 

1 It was known as Camp Radziminski (Kiowa County), being named for 
a young lieutenant of cavalry who had died a few weeks before. The camp 
was abandoned in December, 1859, after the establishment of Fort Cobb". 

2 This is General Albert Pike's opinion of this attack : " General Van 
Dorn has been actuated by personal hatred of me, owing to my reports to 
the government, old and new, in regard to his attack at daylight on a 
Comanche camp of men, women, and children, who had come in under 
the promise of protection from the commandant at Fort Arbuckle." 
— Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XIII, p. 954, 



EARLY MILITARY HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 91 

and fields ruined, fled for protection to Fort Arbuckle, their 
effort to act as peacemakers having resulted only in getting 
them into trouble. 

101. Forts established to protect Whites and Civilized 
Tribes. As soon as it became the definite policy of the 
government to settle Indian tribes in the western portion 
of Arkansas Territory, forts were established to protect the 
whites and also to keep the Indian tribes from fighting with 
one another. It is interesting to note how troops were shifted 
about from place to place as the centers of difficulty changed. 
Where the soldiers were needed forts were built. We have 
noted that Fort Smith ( 1 8 1 7) was the first of these, and that 
it was established to keep the Osages and western Chero- 
kees at peace (sect. 20). A complete chain of forts eventually 
extended along the northern border of Texas, and another 
series of military posts was established in Kansas. The first 
strictly Oklahoma garrison was that of Fort Gibson, ^ located 
at the juncture of the Neosho and Arkansas rivers in Feb- 
ruary, 1824. This was the first permanent white settlement 

1 Named for Colonel George Gibson. It was first known as Cantonment 
Gibson, and for a long time a camp for soldiers, which was always spoken 
of as the Cantonment, was maintained near it. Many famous Americans 
have, at one time or another, lived at Fort Gibson. Besides those men- 
tioned in the text, it is interesting to note that Zachary Taylor was once 
stationed there. And there Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, 
probably first met the general's daughter. Miss Sarah Taylor, whom he 
later married at Louisville, Kentucky. To this post, in 1829, came Sam 
Houston, the future liberator of Texas, when, for some unknown reason, 
he deserted his wife and the governorship of Tennessee at one and the 
same time. Near there he lived with his Cherokee wife, Talehina (Tiana) 
Rogers, whom he in turn deserted when he went to Texas in 1832. Nathan 
Boone, a son of Daniel Boone, the famous frontiersman, was long sta- 
tioned at this post as a captain of dragoons. And to Fort Gibson came 
James G. Blaine, to forget in the wooded solitudes of the Neosho the dis- 
appointment of his defeat for the presidency. 



92 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

in Oklahama. Fort Coffee ^ (i 834-1 838) and Fort Wayne ^ 
(i 838-1 842) were maintained to serve the double purpose 
of protecting the Arkansas border and keeping harmony 
among the Cherokees after the Ross faction was forced 
to move west (sect. 57). Fort Towson'^ on the Kiamitia, in 
what is now Choctaw County, was first garrisoned in March, 
1824, a month after Fort Gibson. Troops were sent here to 
protect the Arkansas and Texas frontiers and keep peace 
among the Choctaws. 

102. Forts in Central and Western Oklahoma. Fort 
Towson was not abandoned until 1854, at which time forts 
were established along the Washita River in the Chickasaw 
district, to protect the Civilized Tribes from the raids of the 
wild Plains Indians west of them. Fort Washita^ (1842- 
1861) was the first of these. It was located on the Washita, 
in what is now known as Bryan County, twenty-two miles 
from Red River. Nine years later (April 19, 185 i) Captain 
R. B. Marcy, previous to his Red River expedition (sect. 26), 
established F'ort Arbuckle,^ west of Davis on the north slope 

1 Fort Coffee was named for General John Coffee, an Indian commis- 
sioner who negotiated treaties for the removal to Oklahoma of several 
southern tribes. The post was located on the Arkansas River, twelve 
miles above Fort Smith, in what is now Sequoyah County. Established 
in June, 1834, it was abandoned four years later, October, 1838. 

2 Fort Wayne, named for General Anthony Wayne of Revolutionary 
fame, was located (October 29, 1838) on Spavinaw Creek, in what is now 
Delaware County. It was abandoned May 26, 1842, on the establishment 
of Fort Scott, Kansas. 

3 Named for General Nathan Towson. 

* Fort Washita was first garrisoned, April 3, 1842. It was abandoned by 
the federal government, April 16, 1861, when the Union forces were com- 
pelled to retreat north at the beginning of the Civil War. 

^ Fort Arbuckle was named for General Matthew Arbuckle, who long 
commanded the military district including the Indian Territory. It was 
not abandoned until June 24, 1870, when the location of Fort Sill farther 
west made it no longer necessary. 



EARLY MILITARY HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 93 

of the Arbuckle Mountains, which evidently take their name 
from the fort. We have seen (p. 90, note) that Fort Cobb ^ 
(1 859-1 869), also on the Washita but farther west in the 
Chickasaw leased district, had its beginning about the time 
of Major Van Dorn's expedition to the Wichita Mountains. 
Fort Supply (i 868-1 891), Fort Sill (1869), and Fort Reno 
(1874) were not established until after the Civil War. They 
were needed in order that a force should always be at hand 
to compel the Plains Indians to remain upon their reser- 
vations. Thus it is seen that the establishment and aban- 
donment of these posts depended upon our relations to the 
Indian tribes. During the great war that devastated the 
entire Indian country from i860 to 1865 most of these old 
forts were reoccupied and many new ones garrisoned. To-day 
Fort Sill is the only post in the state, and is maintained 
not as a means of pacifying turbulent tribesmen, but as an 
artillery training station. Fort Reno is still owned by the na- 
tional government, but is used merely as a great military 
horse ranch. 

1 Fort Cobb was named for Howell Cobb, secretary of the treasury in 
Buchanan's cabinet. Established October i, 1859, it was finally abandoned 
March 12, 1869, after the establishment of Fort Sill. 



CHAPTER XI 

FIRST YEAR OF THE CIVIL WAR 

103. Why the Five Nations favored the South. The real 
military history of Oklahoma begins with the Civil War. It 
was not surprising that most of the Indians of the Five 
Civilized Tribes should side with the Confederacy for these 
reasons: (i) slaves were held in ah the Five Nations; (2) 
Indian Territory is in the South, and Southern sentiment 
would naturally prevail here ; (3) most of the white men who 
had married into the tribes were from the South ; (4) appar- 
ently all the federal Indian agents in the Territory at the 
beginning of the war were Southern sympathizers and advised 
the Indians to break relations with the government at Wash- 
ington ; ^ (5) early in the war the North abandoned all its forts 
in the Territory, and friendly as well as neutral tribes were 
left at the mercy of their opponents. Under the circumstances 
the Indians could not do otherwise than side with the South. 

104. Choctaws and Chickasaws a Unit for the South. The 
two Red River tribes, the Choctaws and the Chickasaws, were 
a unit for the Confederacy.^ The three more northern nations 
were not so unanimous. As early as February 7, 1861, long 
before the news of the organization of the Confederate govern- 
ment could have reached the Indian country, we find that the 
general council of the Choctaw nation had resolved: "That 

1 Rebellion Records, Series IV, Vol. I, No. 127, p. 360. 

2 It is reported that there were but forty Chickasaw families loyal to 
the Union, and that only seventeen Choctaws enlisted in the Northern 
army. 

94 



FIRST YEAR OF THE CIVIL WAR 95 

in the event a permanent dissolution of the American Union 
takes place, our many relations with the general government 
must cease, and we shall be left to follow the natural affec- 
tions, education, institutions, and interest of our people, which 
indissolubly bind us in every way to the destiny of our neigh- 
bors and brethren of the Southern States. . . ." ^ Three 
months later, May 13, 1861, the Chickasaw legislature for- 
mally declared the treaties of alliance and friendship existing 
between the United States and the Chickasaw nation dis- 
solved in favor of an alliance with the Confederate states. 

105. Union Forces abandon Forts. During April and May, 
1 86 1, all the federal troops in the Indian country abandoned 
the region. Lieutenant Colonel William H. Emory was in 
command of the department. He was unable to get orders 
from Washington or St. Louis, and being of Southern birth 
he hesitated to engage in a civil war, although he was loyal 
to the Union. On March 18 he was ordered to concentrate 
his forces at Fort Washita, just north of the Texas line.^ 
He undertook to do this, but supplies for the command were 
seized while coming up the Arkansas River. He felt unable 
to hold the fort and it was abandoned April 16. On May 5 
Fort Arbuckle was captured by Texas troops without a fight, 
and on the 9th Colonel Emory fell in with the troops from 
F'ort Cobb, for this post had been abandoned on the 5th. On 
April 23 Fort Smith was relinquished because of lack of sup- 
plies. All these posts were immediately seized by the Con- 
federates, Colonel Emory retreating into Kansas, and thus 
by May 19, 1861, the whole of Indian Territory was aban- 
doned to the South. Fort Smith, which was on the border, 

1 Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. I, p. 682. 

2 Ibid., p. 656. 



96 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

was in the possession of Arkansas militia and was soon to 
be turned over to the Confederacy. Fort Leavenworth, in 
Kansas, was the only vantage point left the Union in all 
this western region. 

1C6. Confederates Organize. While the North was dis- 
tracted because of resignations from the regular army and 
because of conflicting ideas as to what should be done, the 
South went energetically to work to win all the slave terri- 
tory. On May 13, 1861, Captain Benjamin McCulloch of 
Texas was commissioned a brigadier general in the Confed- 
erate service and was placed in command of the " military 
district " of Indian Territory. He was to have command of 
one regiment each from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, with 
three regiments to be raised from the Five Nations. It seems 
that General McCulloch never took personal control of 
affairs in the Indian country, his commanding ability being 
demanded elsewhere in the South. 

107. Indians make Treaty with Confederates. With a 
view to winning all the Civilized Tribes to the Confederacy, 
L. P. Walker, the Confederate secretary of war, appointed 
(May 14, 1 861) David Hubbard, of Alabama, superintendent 
of Indian affairs for the tribes of Indian Territory. ^ Captain 
Albert Pike of Arkansas, who was much interested in winning 
over the Indians to the South, was also designated a com- 
missioner to treat with the Indians to secure offensive and 
defensive alliances. 

108. Captain Albert Pike. Captain Albert Pike was a 
peculiar, erratic genius, who for the next two years played 
an important part in Oklahoma history. Born in Boston in 
1809, he was compelled to leave Harvard College because 

1 Hubbard came to Fort Smith, but never assumed the office. 



FIRST YEAR OF THE CIVIL WAR 97 

of lack of funds. Coming West in 183 1, he found himself 
stranded at Santa Fe, and made his way with five companions 
across the plains to F^ort Smith, where he arrived in 1832. 
Here he taught school, edited a paper, studied law, and soon 
took a leading part in affairs. He was a captain in the Mex- 
ican War, and gained considerable renown as a poet. Living 
on the border of the Indian country and being a linguist, he 
soon mastered the Indian dialects, thus becoming a power 
among all the Civilized Tribes. He zealously espoused the 
cause of the South at the commencement of the war, and 
his relations with the Indians, as their attorney, made it pos- 
sible for him to secure treaties from them in behalf of the 
Confederacy that would have been difficult for any one else 
to have obtained.^ But he was temperamentally unfit to com- 
mand an army, and he did the Confederates more harm in 
Indian Territory than any federal officer sent against them. 

109. Pike secured Treaties. As soon as General Pike was 
appointed Indian commissioner, he set about securing the 
desired treaties. Early in July and again on August i, 1861, 
he met delegates from the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, 
and Seminoles, and treaties were negotiated. Pike pointed 
out how the federal government had deserted the entire 
region, and promised on behalf of the Confederacy to carry 
out all the treaty agreements between the Indian nations and 
the United States. But the Cherokees, under the conserva- 
tive leadership of their principal chief, John Ross, were more 
cautious. Ross called a convention of the Cherokees, which 
met August 21, 1861. This convention, after considerable 
deliberation, voted to form an alliance with the Confederacy, 

1 A large portion of Rebellion Records, Series IV, Vol. I, No. 127, is 
filled with these Indian treaties Pike made for the Confederacy. 



98 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

but the treaty was not actually signed until October 7, 1861. 
It is worth noting that the Cherokee convention was not 
called until after the battle of Wilson Creek (August 10, 
1 861). The defeat of the Northern troops in this engage- 
ment, and the fact that the federal forces had completely 
abandoned the Indian country, put such a damper upon Union 
sentiment among the Indians that for a time the Confederates 
had everything their own way. Moreover, the Confederate 
agent, Pike, agreed to pay all the annuities which the federal 
government owed the Indians but had failed to pay since the 
war began. 

110. Why the Cherokees Divided. Secession sentiment in 
the three northern tribes was far from being as unanimous 
as in the Choctaw and Chickasaw county. While the slavery 
question played an important part in this alignment of sym- 
pathies, the old Ridge and Ross hatreds (sect. 57) cropped 
out again in the Cherokee nation. It is not surprising that 
when Stand Watie espoused the Southern cause so eagerly, 
John Ross should have leaned toward the North. Ross's 
long years as principal chief of the Cherokees bear striking 
evidence of his conservatism, and it is evident that he must 
have believed that the best policy for the Cherokees was to 
keep clear of the controversy. Finally, when he found this 
impossible, his dislike for Stand Watie and other ardent Con- 
federates naturally would have driven him into the Union 
camp. Moreover, Ross had not forgotten the treatment he 
had received at the hands of the Georgians. Stand Watie, ^ 
who had favored the removal treaty, could easily side with 
the state that had abused his people, but not so Ross. His 

1 Stand Watie was a younger brother of Elias Boudinot, who was assas- 
sinated for signing the removal treaty. 



FIRST YEAR OF THE CIVIL WAR 99 

treaty with the Confederates was in all respects a league 
formed for the sake of policy and not out of devotion to the 
Southern cause. 

111. Why the Creeks Divided. A similar feud between 
rival factions in the Creek nation had much to do with the 
desertions in that tribe. Yo-ho-la and his followers, it will be 
remembered, assassinated General William Mcintosh back 
in Georgia in 1825 (sect. 46) for having signed a removal 
treaty. Now D. N. Mcintosh became colonel of a Creek 
regiment, and his brother. Chilly Mcintosh, lieutenant colonel 
of the same organization. They were sons of the General 
Mcintosh who had been " executed " years before by Yo-ho-la 
and others of his way of thinking. Thus with the old chief 
" it was not a question of loyalty or disloyalty to the United 
States, but simply one of self-preservation." ^ When he found 
that the two Mcintosh brothers had been given high com- 
missions in the Confederate service, he and his followers, 
possibly two thirds of the Creek nation, struck out for Kan- 
sas. They were accompanied by large detachments from the 
Seminoles and by a few Cherokees. It is evident that Yo- 
ho-la was encouraged to take this step by the promise of 
federal aid, because letters had been exchanged between 
him and E. H. Carruth, the United States commissioner. 
At this time letters were also written to other chiefs by the 
federal commissioner. The one to the chief of the Wichitas, 
like the others, was dated Barnesville, September 11, 1861, 
and read as follows : 

It is the wish of the commissioner of the United States govern- 
ment that you either come to Kansas with your friends the Seminoles, 
or send two or three of your best braves. We also want the Keechies, 

1 Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (New York), Vol. I, p. 336. 



lOO HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

the lonies, Caddoes, and Comanches to send some of their men to meet 
and have a talk with the commissioner of Your Great Father at Wash- 
ington. His soldiers are as swift as the antelope, and brave as the 
mountain bear, and they are your friends and brothers. They will give 
you powder and lead. They will fight by your sides. Your friend Black 
Beaver will meet you here. . . . The Texans have killed the Wichitas ; 
we will punish the Texans. Come with your friends the Seminoles.^ 

Thus large numbers of ^ Indians, either out of fear of hostile 
tribes or out of a sort of rude loyalty to the Union leaders, 
gathered in Kansas. And while the Plains tribes proved a 
great burden, consuming large quantities of provisions and 
rendering little or no assistance to the cause they thus es- 
poused, yet the civilized Indians were the efficient means of 
eventually taking most of Oklahoma from the Confederacy. 

112. Northern Oklahoma falls into the Hands of the Con- 
federates. On April 24, 1861, Fort Smith was seized by 
Arkansas state troops, previous to the secession of the state. 
This seizure was easily accomplished because the post had 
been stripped of its garrison by Colonel Emory when he was 
ordered to proceed to F'ort V^ashita (sect. 105). By the cap- 
ture of Fort Smith large quantities of supplies and munitions 
of war fell into the hands of the Confederates. All federal 
supplies being shipped up the Arkansas River were also con- 
fiscated. This gave the Southern forces a material advantage 
in their operations of which they made good use. The ample 
equipment obtained by the Confederates in this way explains 
many of their early successes in the Indian c^\:/.7try. Later, 
when they had used up these supplies and could get no more, 
the tide turned against them. General Benjamin McCuUoch 

1 Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. VIII, pp. 25-26. The letters to the 
different chiefs all ask that they come to Kansas. These letters were found 
in the Creek camp after they had been defeated at Shoal Creek (Chus-te- 
nah-lah) by General James Mcintosh, December 26, 1861 (sect. 116). 



FIRST YEAR OF THE CIVIL WAR loi 

used this fort as his permanent base of supphes up to the 
time of his death at Pea Ridge (sect. 121). 

113. Confederates attack the Union Creeks. Up to No- 
vember 19, 1 86 1, neither side had carried matters so far that 
war became a reahty. But Colonel Douglas H. Cooper, who 
was in actual command of affairs in the Indian country in 
the absence of General Albert Pike and General McCulloch, 
brought matters to a head. In his report to Judah P. Benja- 
min, Confederate secretary of war, from Fort Gibson under 
date of January 20, 1862, he avers that " having exhausted 
every means in my power to procure an interview with (Ho- 
po-eith-le) Yo-ho-la, for the purpose of effecting a peaceful 
settlement of the difficulties existing between his party and 
the constituted authorities of the Creek nation, finding that 
my written overtures . . . were treated with silence, if not 
contempt, by him, and having received positive evidence that 
he had been for a considerable length of time in correspond- 
ence, if not alliance, with the federal authorities in Kansas, 
I resolved to advance upon him with the forces under my 
command." ^ 

114. Battle of Round Mountain. Colonel Cooper's forces 
consisted of the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted 
Rifles, of which he himself was colonel ; the Creek regiment 
under Colonel D. N. Mcintosh ; the Creek and Seminole 
battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Chilly Mcintosh (Creek 
war chief) and Major John Jumper (chief of the Seminoles) ; 

1 Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. VIII, p. 5 (Colonel Cooper's report 
to Benjamin). Colonel, later General, Douglas H. Cooper was a Missis- 
sippian who happened to be the Choctaw-Chickasaw Indian agent at the 
outbreak of the war. He immediately recruited a regiment of Choctaws 
and Chickasaws and served throughout the war. He died in Indian 
Territory in 1867. 



I02 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

and a detachment of the Fourth Texas Cavalry under Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Quayle. 

As Yo-ho-la retreated north Colonel Cooper pushed after 
him, and just after crossing the Red Fork, late in the after- 
noon of November 19, 1861, actual bloodshed in the Ameri- 
can Civil War began in Oklahoma. The loss was but slight 
on both sides. Cooper did not push his pursuit, although the 
Creeks got considerably the worst of the skirmish. Orders had 
been received by Colonel Cooper to join General McCulloch 
in Arkansas in order to resist an advance of the federal army 
under General Fremont. 

115. Battle of Bird Creek. But the Northern officer failed 
to come into Arkansas, and Colonel Cooper was thus left 
free to continue his attack on the retreating Creeks. These 
had turned eastward into the Cherokee country on the invita- 
tion, according to Colonel Cooper, " of a leading disaffected 
Cherokee." Yo-ho-la was overtaken at Bird Creek,^ some 
twelve or fifteen miles north of Tulsey Town (Tulsa). Cooper 
had been reenforced by the F'irst Cherokee Mounted Rifles. 
This regiment had been enlisted by Governor Ross and 
was composed almost entirely of full bloods.^ They were 
opposed to fighting the Creeks, were loyal to Ross, and dis- 
posed to favor the North. Before the battle a parley was 
held with the Union Indians, and when it was found that no 
adjustment could be made with the Creeks, this Cherokee 
regiment of full bloods deserted in a body. Some joined 
Yo-ho-la and others merely abandoned the field. Only twenty- 
nine of Colonel Drew's twelve hundred men participated in 

1 In Creek it is called Chus-ta-la-sah, which means " caving bank." 

2 They were later known as " Pin Indians," because those who joined 
the Union forces used a pin as their emblem. 



FIRST YEAR OF THE CIVIL WAR 103 

the engagement ; but in spite of this defection on the eve of 
the fight, Colonel Cooper attacked the Creeks (December 9, 
1 861), who held a strongly fortified position in a horseshoe 
bend of Bird Creek. After an obstinate fight Yo-ho-la was 
driven from his position and forced to take refuge in the 
mountains beyond. The Creek loss must have been con- 
siderable, that of the Confederates was fifteen killed and 
thirty-seven wounded, 

116. Battle of Shoal Creek. The Confederates did not 
dare to pursue the retreating Creeks because of the disposition 
of the Ross faction to join the North, or at least to refuse to 
sanction any attack upon their neighbors, the Creeks. In 
this emergency Colonel James Mcintosh, in command of 
the white troops at Fort Smith, was sent to for aid. He 
came in person to Fort Gibson and, for the time being, 
put a damper upon federal sympathies among the Cherokees. 
Mcintosh energetically pushed forward, not waiting for as- 
sistance from the somewhat dilatory and demoralized troops 
of Cooper. On December 26, 1861, he attacked and defeated 
the Creeks under Yo-ho-la ^ at Shoal Creek (Chus-te-nah-lah). 
Colonel Stand Watie, commander of a Cherokee regiment 
composed chiefly of half bloods, was the only officer of 
Cooper's command who assisted in this final rout of Yo-ho-la. 
Fleeing Creek and Seminole women and children, of whom 
there must have been three hundred or more, were taken 
prisoners. Twenty negroes, thirty wagons, seventy yoke of 
oxen, and possibly six hundred Indian ponies also fell to the 
victors. The loyal Creeks were completely demoralized. Their 

1 There was a regiment in Colonel Mcintosh's command of peculiar 
organization, known as the South Kansas-Texas Cavalry, W. P. Lane, 
lieutenant colonel, commanding. See Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. 
VIII, pp. 22-33. 



I04 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

killed is reported by Mcintosh to have been two hundred and 
fifty. This number is possibly somewhat exaggerated. The 
Confederate loss was nine killed and forty wounded. 

117. A Winter of Suffering. The year 1861 ended with 
the Confederates in complete possession of Indian Territory. 
Union sentiment was crushed out in the Cherokee nation. 
Loyal Creeks and Seminoles were driven into Kansas, and 
so too were the Plains Indians of the Southwest, who, on ac- 
count of their dislike for the whites of Texas, had joined the 
North. The suffering of these refugees during the winter of 
1 86 1- 1 862 was terrible. Most of them had abandoned com- 
fortable homes. They had lost their stock and had no other 
provisions ; they were without shoes, and many lacked cloth- 
ing. The federal government, occupied with the great strug- 
gle upon its hands, completely neglected these loyal sufferers. 
Sickness followed exposure, and large numbers of these 
friendly Indians died. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE AND ITS RESULTS 

118. The Battle of Pea Ridge. The year 1862 opened 
with the South in complete control of the Indian country. 
But early in the year Generals Curtis and Siegel marched 
into northwestern Arkansas to fight for this region which had 
been lost to the North because of its defeat at Wilson Creek 
(August 10, 1 861). They were met at Pea Ridge (March 7 and 
8, 1862) by the brilliant Confederate officer Earl Van Dorn, 
in command of the armies of Generals Price and McCulloch, 
When Van Dorn learned of the advance of the federal troops, 
he ordered the concentration of his forces, the Confederate 
Indians with the rest. 

119. The Indians refuse to Move. The treaty made with 
the Cherokees, as with the other tribes, stipulated that the 
Indians were not to be compelled to fight outside of the 
Indian country without their consent. Therefore, when late 
in February, 1862, General Albert Pike, then in personal 
command of the Confederate Indians in the Indian country, 
received orders to join Van Dorn, who was then concentrat- 
ing all his forces to meet the advancing federal army, the 
Indians refused to move until they were paid. Pike had been 
in Richmond the preceding winter and had a large sum of 
money for distribution among the Indians.^ " The Choctaws, 

1 " I had in charge a large amount of coin and other moneys for the 
different Indian tribes, and found delegations of the Osages, Comanches, 
and Reserve Indians awaiting me." See Pike's report, Rebellion Records, 
Series I, Vol. VIII, p. 287. 

105 



Io6 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

Chickasaws, and Creeks refused to march until they were 
paid off," Pike recounts in his report of the battle of Pea 
Ridge; ''and as by their treaties with us they could not be 
taken from the Indian country without their consent, I had 
no alternative but to submit." But the payment took so long 
that Pike persuaded what troops he could to march, and has- 
tened forward. 

120. Indian Forces at Pea Ridge. So, perforce. Pike 
hurried toward Arkansas with the one regiment of Creeks, 
a portion of the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment, and 
a squadron of Texans. These were all that he could persuade 
to move. He waited a day (March 2) at Park Hill on the 
Illinois River for the Choctaw and Chickasaw troops that 
had previously refused to move. Being disappointed in this, 
he hurried eastward. At Cincinnati, on the Cherokee line, he 
came up with the capable Stand Watie and his regiment of 
Cherokee half bloods, and on March 5 he overtook Colonel 
Drew, who had recruited a new regiment of Cherokees after 
the desertion at Bird Creek (sect. 115). Pike's entire com- 
mand consisted of only one thousand men, all Indians, ex- 
cept the one squadron of Texas cavalry. Late that night 
General Pike and his Indian brigade fell in with the rear 
of General McCulloch's division.^ 

121. The First Day at Pea Ridge. The next day, March 
7, 1862, began the most desperate battle in which Oklahoma 
Indians ever participated. Curtis and Siegel, the Union gen- 
erals, having recovered from the defeat at Wilson's Creek 
the preceding summer, marched ten thousand five hundred 
men into northwestern Arkansas to carr}^ the war into the 
enemy's country. Earl Van Dorn, the ranking Confederate 

1 See Pike's report, Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. VIII, p. 287. 



BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE AND ITS RESULTS 107 

officer, rapidly concentrated the armies of Price and McCul- 
loch. He assembled an army of 16,202 men, a force more 
than one half larger than that of the Union army. Never was 
a battle more fiercely contested. Here the dashing Van Dorn 
launched a staggering blow at the greatly outnumbered Na- 
tionals. A curious feature of the battle was that the Confed- 
erates passed completely around the Union west or left flank 
to Pea Ridge, which is fifteen miles east of Fayetteville. Thus 
the battle was fought with the federal soldiers facing due north. 
The Southern left flank was in command of Sterling Price, 
the famous Missourian. The right flank was under McCul- 
loch, the brilliant Texan. The death of Generals McCulloch 
and Mcintosh ^ and the serious wounding of Colonel Herbert 
left the Confederate right wing without an efficient officer, 
and the stubborn valor of General P^rantz Siegel completely 
blocked Van Dorn. The next day (March 8) the battle was 
renewed on the Confederate left, where Price had commanded 
so effectually the day before. But with the repulse of the Con- 
federate right on the first day. Van Dorn's plan was spoiled 
and he was glad to withdraw from the field with his shattered 
command. 

122. General Pike's Report of the Battle. It was on the 
Confederate right under McCulloch that Pike's one thousand 
Indians took position. Let me quote General Pike's own 
account of the battle. 

The enemy opened fire into the woods where we were, the fence in 
front of us was thrown down, and, the Indians (Watie's regiment on 
foot and Drew's on horseback), with part of Sim's regiment, gallantly 
led by Lieutenant-Colonel Quayle, charged full in front through the 

1 This was the same James Mcintosh who made the brief campaign in 
the Cherokee country and had effectually defeated Yo-ho-la, the leader of 
the Union Creeks. 



Io8 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

woods and into the open ground with loud yells, routed the cavalry, 
took the battery, fired upon and pursued the enemy, retreated through 
the fenced field on our right, and held the battery, which I afterwards 
had drawn by the Cherokees into the woods. Four of the horses of the 
battery alone remained on the ground, the others running off with the 
caissons, and for want of horses and harness we were unable to send 
the guns to the rear. 

This slight success and the death of the commanding 
generals seem to have completely demoralized Pike and the 
Indians. General Pike's report continues : 

We remained at the battery for some twenty minutes, when Colonel 
Watie informed me that another battery was in our front. . . . Colonel 
Drew's regiment was in the field on our right, and around the taken 
battery was a mass of Indians and others in the utmost confusion^ all 
talking, ridi7ig this way and that, a7id listening to no orders from any 
one. I directed Captain Roswell W. Lee ... to have the guns which 
had been taken, faced to our front, that they might be used against the 
battery just discovered ; but he could not induce a single man to assist 
in doing so. At this moment the enemy sent shells into the field, and 
the Indians retreated hurriedly into the woods out of which they had 
made the charge. Well aware that they could not face shells in the open 
ground, I directed them to dismount, take their horses to the rear, and 
each take to a tree, and this was done by both regiments. 

123. Pike deserts the Battle Field. Here the Indians' 
participation in the battle of Pea Ridge ceased. The death 
of the Confederate officers left to General Pike great respon- 
sibilities which he executed miserably. When General Van 
Dorn ordered the Confederate right wing to concentrate at 
Elkhorn Tavern, off toward the east, Pike failed to move, was 
separated from his command, and, according to his own ac- 
count (Rebellion Records, Vol. VIII, p. 291), two other offi- 
cers and a half dozen stragglers constituted his entire force 
as he hurried from the field. He did not know until he 
arrived at Cincinnati on the Cherokee border whether any of 



BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE AND ITS RESULTS 109 

his regiments that had participated in the battle had escaped. 
Here he also learned of the safe withdrawal of the wagon 
train of the Indian brigade. A little later Pike met Douglas 
H. Cooper, but recently promoted to a generalship, with the 
laggard Choctaws and Chickasaws, as well as two hundred 
Creeks under Colonel D. N. Mcintosh, who had refused to 
march a few days before. These troops were too late to be 
of any assistance to Van Dorn. 

124. Indian Losses at Pea Ridge. Pea Ridge was the most 
bloody and desperate of all the lesser battles of the Civil 
War, yet General Pike gives the loss in his brigade as but 
three killed and two wounded. In a battle where opportu- 
nities to fight were so abundant, and where the evidences of 
valor on both sides were so numerous, it appears that Pike 
and his Indians acquitted themselves but poorly. An Indian's 
well-known aversion to cannon, when pointed his way, may 
partially explain this. The Union forces of Curtis had no 
less than forty-nine guns on the field and in action. These 
were his chief reliance, and with them he won his battle. It 
goes without saying that if all the Confederate commands had 
behaved as did Pike's, the battle of Pea Ridge could never 
have been termed ''bloody." The colonel of the Third Iowa 
Cavalry, Cyrus Bussey, reported that of the twenty-five men 
in his regiment who were killed when facing the Indians eight 
had been scalped, and that the bodies of many others had been 
mutilated. Affidavits were presented to sustain this charge. ^ 

125. Confederates desert Cherokees. The defeat of the Con- 
federates at Pea Ridge was not the least of the Cherokees' 

1 Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. VIII, p. 207. And it is quite possible 
that these charges were true, for, as we have seen above (sect. 122). Gen- 
eral Pike lost complete control of his troops. 



no HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

difficulties. On April 15, 1862, General Van Dorn was 
ordered east of the Mississippi River with his entire army. 
This stripped Arkansas of efficient troops. The North, how- 
ever, was slow to take advantage of its opportunity. In April 
three regiments were organized among the Union Indians, 
who had starved and frozen all through the preceding winter 
in Kansas.^ It was not until June, however, that these troops 
entered the Territory, and then they came in no consider- 
able numbers. 

126. General Pike's Inefficiency. Had General Albert 
Pike possessed a scintilla of military ability, this was his op- 
portunity. He had a large and fairly well organized Indian 
army, but instead of remaining at the seat of difficulty and 
energetically retrieving the misfortunes at Pea Ridge, he with- 
drew almost all his army to the extreme southern part of the 
Choctaw nation. Then, when two hundred miles from the 
seat of war, he began to intrench himself at a place which 
he named P'ort McCulloch, near Armstrong Academy. In 
vain did Colonel Cooper ask aid ; in vain did Pike's depart- 
ment commanders, General Hindman and General Holmes, 
order him forward. He remained at Fort McCulloch and 
wrote to every one in authority, complaining because General 
Van Dorn had seized supplies which he thought should have 
gone to the Indians. Volume XIII (Series I) of the ''Re- 
bellion Records " contains page after page of such letters 
sent to President Jefferson Davis and to the Confederate 

1 James W. Denver, an ex-governor of Kansas Territory, was assigned 
to the command of the Union forces in the Indian Territory, and Robert 
W. Furnas, afterwards governor of Nebraska, was appointed colonel of the 
First Indian Regiment. But it seems that neither Governor Denver nor 
Governor Furnas ever took active command in Oklahoma. It is interesting 
to note that Denver, Colorado, was named for General Denver. 



BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE AND ITS RESULTS 1 1 1 

secretary of war. Under date of July 3, 1862, appears an 
official communication of Pike's to General Hindman, which, 
if written out in long hand, would make no less than twenty- 
five pages. In it this brigadier of the Indian, country re- 
counts the year's history of the war from his standpoint. 
He tells of his backache and how hot it is in his tent, says 
that he is too fat " to ride much on horseback," and wishes 
some one else would take the command. His idea of disci- 
pline was to threaten to fire cannon at his own men if they 
did not obey promptly.^ He found time to get a printing 
press and set about printing what he termed '' necessary 
forms and blanks," but he had no time for fighting, although 
squads of a few hundred Union soldiers were overrunning 
the entire Cherokee country. His orders were so absurd that 
they fully warranted Colonel Cooper on August 7, 1862, in 
writing General Hindman : " I have ordered the arrest of 
General Pike. ... I consider him partially deranged, and a 
dangerous person to be at liberty among the Indians." A 
week before this (July 31) Pike had issued a proclamation, 
addressed to the Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Chickasaws, 
and Choctaws, saying he had resigned ; but some months 
later he changed his mind, and on October 23, 1862, we 
find him back from what he now called " leave of absence," 
and without the least warrant of law or authority he attempted 
to again assume command in the Indian Territory. This 
attempt was promptly followed by an order for his arrest. 
This ended Pike's military career.^ The Indian alliances, 
instead of being an aid to the Confederacy, were a drain and 

1 Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XIII, pp. 954-962. 

2 General Pike removed to W^ashington after the war. Here he practiced 
law until his death in i8qi. 



112 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

a burden. Douglas H. Cooper was made temporary com- 
mander in the Indian country, and on October 27, 1862, was 
also appointed superintendent of Indian affairs. 

127. Cherokees declare for the North. While Albert Pike 
fumed and did nothing, let us see what was going on in north- 
ern Oklahoma. The Union forces that had been organized in 
April in Kansas (sect. 125) came down into the Cherokee 
country late in June, 1862. They were under the immediate 
command of Colonel William Weer. Stand Watie, who had 
been raiding in southwestern Missouri, was pushed south, 
and all the Indian country north of the Arkansas River was 
cleared of Confederates by a force that was considerably 
smaller than the Southern army which General Pike was 
holding in idleness down on the Red River. But the Union 
officer. Colonel Weer, was hardly more competent than the 
Confederate Pike. Weer went into camp on Grand River, 
fourteen miles north of Fort Gibson, and remained there, 
almost as idle as his opponent Pike at F'ort McCulloch. 
Finally, he was arrested by one of his subordinates for 
drunkenness, 1 and the command retreated northward with 
nothing permanently accomplished. 

128. Chief Ross deserts Confederates. Previous to this, 
however, on July 14, 1862, Major Campbell, an officer 
under Weer, entered Fort Gibson, and the same day Captain 
Greno took Tahlequah. Captain Greno's report to Colonel 
Weer continues: ''On the morning of the 15th I moved 
my command to Park Hill [a town about five miles south 
of Tahlequah], the residence of John Ross, chief of the 
Cherokee nation. Here I found about two hundred Chero- 
kee Indians waiting for an opportunity to join the Union 

1 Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XIII, p. 484. This was July i8, 1862. 



BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE AND ITS RESULTS 1 1 3 

Army." At Ross's house were found a large number of 
Cherokee officers who had again abandoned Colonel Drew's 
regiment, among these being Lieutenant Colonel W. P. Ross 
and Major Thomas Pegg. " Members of Colonel Drew's 
regiment had received orders from Colonel Cooper to report 
for duty at once at his headquarters at P^ort Davis. ^ These 
orders had been received but a few hours previous to my 
arrival. Colonel Ross was hesitating what course to pursue, 
and to decide the matter for him I made them all prisoners 
of war and brought them to these headquarters." These 
leading Cherokees went willingly enough into the Union 
service, and at this time two hundred other friendly Chero- 
kees accompanied Greno back to the Union camp. Chief 
John Ross was arrested and then paroled by Captain Greno. 
Thus he avoided Colonel Cooper's command to call on every 
Cherokee from the ages of eighteen to thirty-five to take up 
arms for the Confederates, as the treaty between the Chero- 
kees and the Confederate states stipulated must be done in 
case of invasion. After the affair at Pea Ridge the federal 
cause did not seem anywhere near so hopeless as it had in 
the preceding October, when Ross had signed the act of the 
Cherokee national council, confirming the treaty of alliance 
with the southern states. Ross and the eastern Cherokees 
naturally inclined to the North. They disliked and feared 
Stand Watie and his brother, E. C. Boudinot, who were 
nephews of Major Ridge, and old tribal hatreds still lingered. 
On June 25 Ross pointed out to General Hindman that in 
the third article of the treaty of alliance with the Confederates 

^ Cantonment Davis, or Fort Davis, was a post named for Jefferson 
Davis, established by the Confederates opposite Fort Gibson. It was 
located near Muskogee. 



114 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

the latter had solemnly promised that the Cherokee nation 
should never be deserted nor abandoned. Yet at that time 
it was deserted ; Pike and his army. were two hundred miles 
away, and fifteen days later Chief Ross himself was a federal 
prisoner. Thus Ross, who had an eye to the best interests 
of the Cherokees and wanted in every way to keep out of the 
trouble himself and save his tribe from destruction, found 
that the Cherokees were at the mercy of both factions. The 
old chief felt that he lacked strength to undergo the turmoil 
and strife into which he was now thrown, and he shortly after 
removed to Philadelphia, where he remained until the close 
of the war. 

129. Ross Deposed. On the withdrawal of the Union 
forces the Confederates reoccupied Tahlequah. They were 
incensed at the conduct of Ross and his Union followers, 
who had allowed themselves to be made prisoners after 
having made an alliance with the Confederates. John Ross 
was deposed as principal chief and General Stand Watie 
was put in his place. E. C. Boudinot, a younger brother of 
the newly elected principal chief, who was reputed a brilliant 
orator (p. i6o, note), was sent to Richmond as the Cherokee 
delegate of the Confederate congress. From this time to the 
close of the war both Ross and Stand Watie were recognized 
by their respective factions as Cherokee head chiefs. 

130. Battle of Newtonia. After Colonel Solomon arrested 
Colonel Weer on the Grand River in July, 1862 (sect. 127), 
he immediately retreated north. This left the Cherokee coun- 
try again exposed, and in October Colonel Cooper joined 
General Rains and made an expedition into Missouri. At 
Newtonia (September 30, 1862) they defeated the federal 
troops under Solomon and Weer with considerable loss. 



BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE AND ITS RESULTS 115 

131. Fort Gibson permanently occupied by Union Forces. 
But this Confederate success only stirred the Union forces 
to greater activity. Brigadier General James G. Blunt, who 
had been in command in Kansas since April, 1862, took the 
field in person. Cooper and Rains separated their forces. 
Blunt came up with Colonel Cooper at old Fort Wayne early 
in the morning of October 22 and severely defeated him. 
Captain Howell lost his entire battery. Cooper retreated as 
rapidly as possible south of the Arkansas. On November 9 
Fort Gibson was retaken by the Union forces under Colonel 
William A. Phillips. P>om this time to the close of the war 
this post was the center of Union activities in the Indian 
country. 

132. The Arkansas River Line. F>om the time Fort 
Gibson was occupied until the conclusion of the struggle, 
the war in Indian Territory consisted of a series of attacks 
and counter attacks across the Arkansas River. The country 
north of the river was held by the Union forces, while that 
south of it was generally counted Confederate dominion. 
Cooper and Stand Watie would raid north into the Cherokee 
country ; General Blunt and Colonel Phillips would march 
south from P^ort Gibson. Neither side made any permanent 
gains, but the effect on the Indian country from the count- 
less raids and forays was appalling. The Indian nations 
were completely devastated. 



CHAPTER XIII 

FROM 1863 TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 

133. Cherokees join the Union. A majority of the Cher- 
okee nation was evidently Northern in sentiment. As soon 
as it became apparent that the Northern army had come to 
stay, Captain Thomas Pegg, acting principal chief of the Cher- 
okee nation in the absence of Ross (sect. 128), summoned 
the national council, February 18, 1863. The council repealed 
its former act of alliance with the Confederacy and returned 
to its treaty relations with the United States. It also abolished 
slavery and involuntary servitude in the Cherokee nation. 

134. First Battle of Cabin Creek. It is impossible to give 
in detail the countless minor engagements and skirmishes that 
took place during the winter and spring of 1863. At Webber 
Falls, Colonel Phillips, on April 25, 1863, prevented a meeting 
of the Confederate section of the Cherokee legislature, which 
Principal Chief Stand Watie had called. General Cooper re- 
taliated. May 20, by attacking Phillips's outposts at Fort Gibson 
(this post had now been renamed P'ort Blunt by the federal 
forces). On July i Colonel J. M. Williams, in command of 
the First Kansas Colored Infantry and some white troops, 
was attacked at Cabin Creek by Stand Watie and Mcintosh 
while escorting a long supply train from Fort Scott to Fort 
Blunt. An excellent spot to attack a wagon train was at the 
point where the Fort Scott road crossed this creek, and here 
the Indians assailed the federal forces. The battle lasted two 
days (July i and 2), the Confederates being finally defeated 

116 



FROM 1863 TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 117 

by the aid of the Union cannon. Neither side suffered any 
severe loss, and the wagon train proceeded unharassed to 
Fort Blunt.i 

135. Battle of Honey Springs. On July 1 1, 1863, General 
Blunt arrived at F'ort Gibson, or Fort Blunt as the place was 
called, and made preparations for an active campaign. The su- 
perior resources of the North in money, men, and arms now 
began to tell, and we shall soon find the Confederates pushed 
back to Red River, although they did not surrender central 
Oklahoma without many a stubborn engagement. On July 16 
General Blunt crossed the Arkansas with three thousand men. 
His command consisted of three Indian Home Guard regi- 
ments, the F^irst Kansas Colored Infantry, battalions of cav- 
alry, and two batteries of artillery. General William Steele 
had assumed command of the Confederate forces in Indian 
Territory, September, 1862, but he was not in personal com- 
mand at this time. General Douglas H. Cooper met Blunt's 
attack near Floney Springs, a little west of the present city of 
Muskogee, in the Creek nation, in much the greatest battle 
ever fought in Oklahoma. General Stand Watie held the 
Confederate right wing with the First and Second Chero- 
kee regiments; Colonel Thomas C. Bass had three Texas 
regiments and a battery of artillery with which to hold the 
center, while Colonel D. N. Mcintosh was posted on the left 
with the F^irst and Second Creek regiments. Colonel Tandy 
Walker commanded the reserve of cavalry and the First 
Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment. This force was expected 
to guard the supplies at Honey Springs. The Confederates 
considerably outnumbered the Union forces, but because of in- 
ferior powder they were at a great disadvantage. Blunt struck 

1 Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XXII, pp. 378-382. 



Il8 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

the Confederate line the morning of July 17, on Elk Creek, 
some three miles from Honey Springs. General Cooper in 
his report ^ states that the morning was .cloudy and damp, and 
many of the guns failed to act in consequence of the inferior 
quality of powder, which rendered them wholly useless. The 
Confederates after a spirited resistance retreated. Cooper 
burned his supplies at Honey Springs before he abandoned 
the place. General Blunt pursued the retreating Confeder- 
ates for about three miles, when, on account of the exhausted 
condition of his men and horses, he called a halt. The Union 
losses were thirteen killed and sixty-two wounded ; the Confed- 
erate losses were one hundred and fifty killed, four hundred 
wounded, and seventy-seven prisoners. The Confederates also 
lost a considerable quantity of arms, camp equipage, etc. 

136. Blunt again attacks the Confederates. In August 
the Federals again crossed the Arkansas and began a gen- 
eral movement southward against General Steele, whose forces 
were concentrated south of the South Canadian. Steele re- 
treated rapidly on Blunt' s approach, General W. L. Cabell 
going east, the Creeks under Colonel D.N. Mcintosh going 
west, while Cooper and Stand Watie retreated southward 
toward Red River. On August 25 Blunt struck the Confed- 
erates in the northern part of what is now Pittsburg County, 
at a small town called Perryville. The Confederates resisted 
with spirit, but their powder was poor and they were forced 
from the field. Blunt burned the Confederate supplies at 
Perryville and then quickly turned a portion of his command 
to the east and hotly pursued Cabell. 

137. Fort Smith Captured. General Cabell retreated as best 
he could, but because of desertions he was unable to make 

1 Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XXII, p. 458. 



FROM 1863 TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 119 

any successful resistance. On September i, the same day 
that General Blunt occupied Fort Smith, he was defeated by 
Colonel Cloud. This was the crowning disaster in the Indian 
country for the Confederates in the year 1863. The capture 
of this post gave the Union army control of all the upper 
Arkansas River. Dissatisfaction with General Steele ^ was 
now so strong that on December 11, 1863, he was removed 
and General Samuel B. Maxey placed in command of the 
'' military district " of the Indian Territory. 

138. Quantrill in Oklahoma. F^ort Smith fell in September. 
Early the next month General James G. Blunt, the Union 
commander of the army of the frontier, determined to move 
his headquarters from Fort Scott to Fort Smith. He was on 
his way October 6, 1863, and stopped for dinner close to 
Baxter Springs, on the Cherokee line, just north of what is 
now Ottawa County, Oklahoma. About four hundred yards 
from F'ort Baxter General Blunt halted his little command, 
which consisted of unarmed clerks and musicians, and a 
mounted guard of one hundred. On October 2, 1863, W. C. 
Quantrill, the noted Missouri raider and guerrilla, had left 
Carthage, Missouri, to join General Cooper's forces on the 
Canadian. It happened that Quantrill struck the Union forces 
at Fort Baxter just at the moment that General Blunt halted 
for dinner. Because of Blunt's lack of caution in not proceed- 
ing on to Fort Baxter, Quantrill got his men between those 
of Blunt and the soldiers in the fort under Lieutenant James 

1 General William Steele was from the North, being born in New York 
in 1840. He joined the Confederates at the commencement of the war. 
But he was never fully trusted by them, and it was frequently charged that 
he was a brother of General Frederick Steele, the Northern general in com- 
mand in Arkansas. This was not true, but it destroyed the Confederate 
officer's usefulness. 



I20 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

B. Pound. The combined Union force consisted of but three 
hundred men, yet had they been in the fort they would have 
been sufficient to withstand the attack of the six hundred and 
fifty Confederates. As it was, Lieutenant Pound succeeded in 
holding his trenches, while General Blunt was badly defeated. 
The Union loss was ninety-eight killed and wounded. Major 
H. Z. Curtis, a son of the famous Union general who com- 
manded at the battle of Pea Ridge (sect. 121), was among 
the slain. Ouantrill's loss was but three killed and three 
wounded. The eighty federals killed in this engagement was 
one of the largest losses suffered by the North in Indian 
Territory. The charge was made time and again that Ouantrill 
murdered all the prisoners he captured, including the un- 
armed clerks and musicians, for they were all shot in the 
head. The report of this officer to General Price would lead 
one to believe the charge true. In this he significantly re- 
marks : " From this place [Fort Baxter] to the Canadian 
River we caught about one hundred and fifty F^ederal Indians 
and negroes in the Nation gathering ponies. We brought 
none of them thro7Lghy ^ For the rest of the war Ouantrill 
served in Oklahoma and Texas. 

139. Confederate Indians Suffer. After the fall of Fort 
Smith the Indians who sympathized with the Confederates 
were all forced out of the northern and central parts of 
Oklahoma. They now took refuge on Red River and, like 
the Union Indians who fled to Kansas in 1861, spent a 
miserable winter. To make matters worse for them. Colonel 
W. A. Phillips, the energetic Union officer, now planned a 

1 Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XXII, p. 701, Quantrill's report to 
General Price ; also see reports of General Blunt, Lieutenant Pound, and 
others. 



FROM 1863 TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 12 1 

winter campaign. In February, 1864, he struck south into 
the Choctaw and Creek country. He also sent expeditions 
into the Seminole and Chickasaw nations. Large quantities of 
supplies were destroyed and an immense wagon train of pro- 
visions and cattle was brought back to Fort Gibson. Colonel 
Phillips, in command of a battalion of cavalry, penetrated 
almost to Fort Washita on this excursion. When in this part 
of the Territory Colonel Phillips addressed letters to Governor 
Colbert of the Chickasaws, to Chief John Jumper of the Semi- 
noles, and to the Choctaw national council. In these letters he 
pointed out the uselessness of continuing the struggle further 
and called their attention to President Lincoln's proclamation 
"in which he offers pardon and peace." ^ If one can accept the 
report of the Northern colonel, he devastated a path through 
the country eighty miles wide. Few Indians accepted his offer. 

140. Tonkawa Massacre. A year previous to this (October 
23, 1862) the Tonkawas, one of the few Plains tribes that 
sided with the South, was set upon at the Anadarko agency by 
a contingent of loyal Delawares, Creeks, Shawnees, and Kick- 
apoos. The Tonkawas were almost annihilated.^ Twenty- 
four warriors and one hundred women and children were 
killed. The others fled to Texas and remained there until 
long after the war (1884). Finally, when they consented to 
come back to Oklahoma, they were settled in the Cherokee 
Strip instead of at their old home near Anadarko, where they 
had so many enemies (sect. 154). 

141. The Last Year of the War. The year 1864 ended 
the war so far as the Indian Territory was concerned. The 

1 Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XXXIV, pp. 106-113. 

2 Ibid., Vol. XIII, p. 919; also Vol. CXXVIII, p. 355. Less than one hun- 
dred women and children and about forty warriors escaped. 



122 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

federal authorities did not think the Indian country of enough 
importance to send a strong force into it, and the year's fight- 
ing consisted of numerous unimportant attacks and counter 
attacks across the Arkansas River hne. 

142. Poison Springs. The long series of reverses of the 
Confederacy previous to the coming of peace was suddenly 
turned into a brilliant success by the defeat of Banks's 
Red River expedition. Banks began his march up the Red 
River valley in March, 1864. General Frederick Steele, a 
Union officer, proceeded south from Little Rock to Camden 
to join Banks later on. The defeat of the Red River expe- 
dition allowed the Confederates to concentrate a large force 
against Steele. The Union forces, hard pressed for food, 
sent out Colonel J. M. Williams, commander of the First 
Kansas Colored Infantry, with a wagon train of one hundred 
and ninety-eight wagons to forage for provisions. The Con- 
federate general, J. S. Marmaduke, learned of this, and on 
April 17, 1864, attacked the Union wagon train with an 
overwhelming force, although Colonel Williams had been 
strengthened by the F2ighteenth Iowa Infantry. It happened 
that General S. B. Maxey, the Indian Territory officer, was 
present, and as he outranked General Marmaduke he com- 
manded in the engagement, which was known as that of 
Poison Springs. General Cabell was also in the action. The 
First Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment, which had moved 
into Arkansas of its own free will (according to the treaty 
with the Confederate government Indians could not be taken 
out of Indian Territory), now had an opportunity to square 
accounts with the troops that had defeated them at Honey 
Springs the year before (sect. 135). The negro regiment 
suffered terribly, one hundred and seventeen of the four 



FROM 1863 TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 123 

hundred and thirty-eight men being killed and sixty-five 
wounded. The Union forces lost their entire train and four 
cannon, and three hundred and one men were either killed 
or wounded. The Confederate loss was but thirty-four killed 
and one hundred and eighty-three wounded.^ This could not 
stem the current of misfortunes of the lost cause, but it was 
a brilliant stroke, and the Choctaw and Chickasaw regiment 
as well as the Indian Territory officers, Maxey and Cabell, 
deserve not a little credit for thus stopping the advance into 
Arkansas. 

143. Stand Watie captures Federal Supplies. When Gen- 
eral John M. Thayer, who had succeeded General Blunt in 
command of Fort Smith, marched south to assist General 
Steele at Camden, the Union forces at Fort Smith and Fort 
Gibson were much weakened. At once the Confederates in 
the vicinity of these posts became active. On June 15, 1864, 
Stand Watie captured the federal supply steamer J. R. Wil- 
liams. General Stand Watie in his report of the affair states 
that "with the boat was captured one hundred and fifty bar- 
rels of flour, sixteen thousand pounds of bacon, and a con- 
siderable quantity of store goods, which was very acceptable 
to the boys, but has turned out to be a disadvantage to the 
command, as the greater portions of the Creeks and Semi- 
noles immediately broke off to carry their booty home. I am 
left here with only a few men."^ To save his cannon General 
Stand Watie had to burn the supplies and retreat rapidly. 

144. Second Battle of Cabin Creek. The most important 
engagement of the year that was actually fought in Oklahoma 
was the second battle of Cabin Creek. The Confederates 

1 RebeUion Records, Series I, Vol. XXXIV, pp. 746-825. 

2 Ibid., Part I, p. 1012. 



124 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

under Generals R. M. Gano and Stand Watie with almost 
two thousand men slipped around the Union forces at Fort 
Gibson. The Arkansas River was crossed above this post, 
and by a rapid march a large federal hay camp was surprised 
and burned. At the same time a valuable supply train en- 
camped at Cabin Creek near by was attacked by the light of 
the burning hay. The next day, September i6, 1864, the 
escort of six hundred men was defeated, and the Confeder- 
ates captured almost the entire train, which consisted of three 
hundred wagons, all loaded with valuable supplies that were 
being sent from Fort Scott to Fort Smith. The Union escort 
was pushed back, and the Confederates escaped with one 
hundred and twenty-nine wagons and thirteen hundred horses 
and mules. What provisions they could not carry away were 
burned. The clothing and provisions captured here proved 
a veritable godsend to the destitute Confederates. 

145. Peace. The fight at Poison Springs was the last 
battle of any proportions in which the Indians participated. 
The winter of 1864- 186 5 was devoid of military incidents 
in Oklahoma. The Territory had been so thoroughly devas- 
tated during the war that the only portion of it south of the 
Arkansas still habitable was in the immediate vicinity of Red 
River, and here the Confederates remained. News of the 
surrender of General Robert E. Lee, which occurred April 
9, 1865, reached the Territory about a week later. General 
Kirby Smith, the Confederate commander west of the Missis- 
sippi, did not surrender until May 26, but almost a month 
before that (May i, 1865) a peace council had been called 
by the Confederate Indians to meet at Council Grove on the 
North Canadian. It did not assemble, however, until May 
26, and then it met at Camp Napoleon on the Washita. 



FROM 1863 TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 125 

The idea was for all the Indians of the Southwest to form a 
league and to stand together in insisting on their rights, and 
in no case was one tribe to war upon another. With the sur- 
render of Kirby Smith the Confederate power in the West 
was completely broken. It was now all important that these 
Indian nations adjust the difficulties in which they found 
themselves because of relations with warring states. But 
this has to do with the chapter on Reconstruction. The 
Civil War was over. 



CHAPTER XIV 

RECONSTRUCTION AND REORGANIZATION 

146. Condition of the Five Nations. The progress and 
industry that Schoolcraft everywhere noted in Indian Terri- 
tory in 1857 had all gone for nothing. The country from 
the Kansas line to the Red River was completely devastated. 
Homes had been burned, fields destroyed, cattle seized.^ 
When the Union troops raided the South they destroyed the 
property of Confederate sympathizers. When Confederates 
went North they retaliated. Bitter tribal hatreds that had all 
but died out were rekindled in the Cherokee and Creek na- 
tions. The Indians lost their slaves, and friendly and hos- 
tile Indians alike were told that because the governments of 
the Five Tribes had sided with the South, they had likewise 

1 In a letter to. Major General Maxey, under date of December 29, 1864, 
Principal Chief P. P. Pitchlynn of the Choctaw nation draws a vivid pic- 
ture of the suffering of the Confederate Indians. " The information, which 
reaches me from every country and almost every neighborhood in this Na- 
tion, representing a state of destitution and suffering unprecedented in our 
history, induces me to address you. ... In consequence of a large number 
of producers being engaged as soldiers, and also the drought which pre- 
vailed last summer, very little corn was made in the uplands. This scarcity 
has caused all classes to look to the few farms of slaveholders on Red river 
as the only hope of subsistence until another crop can be produced. This 
source is not enough to meet the pressing necessities of the refugees and 
the families of soldiers. The soldiers, who have been in defense of the 
country, demand as a right that their families shall not suffer for bread. . . . 
Soldiers, regular and irregular, are constantly traversing the highways and 
byways of the Nation, taking by force or threats of violence the little that 
is to be found in the sections most destitute. There is an increasing spirit 
of dissatisfaction in consequence of the wanton waste and willful destruction 
of private property by the soldiery" (Rebellion Records, Vol. LIII, p. 1035). 

126 



RECONSTRUCTION AND REORGANIZATION 127 

forfeited their treaty rights. Thus the Indians, although the 
Civil War was in no way theirs, suffered by rt as much as 
those who had actively fomented it. 

147. Peace Council at Fort Smith. It was natural that 
Peter P. Pitchlynn, never a bitter partisan, should take the 
first steps for a permanent peace. As governor of the Choc- 
taw nation, he called a general peace council of all tribes of 
Indian Territory to meet at Armstrong Academy, Septem- 
ber I, 1865. The Indians wished to meet commissioners of 
the United States and renew the treaties abrogated at the 
outbreak of the war. Already it was hinted that the federal 
authorities meant to insist that the rebellion of the Civilized 
Tribes had caused these treaties to lapse, and that if new 
treaties were made, they would be in such form as to suit the 
United States government and not the Indians. Naturally 
the Indians were anxious to learn the terms on which they 
could resume their relations with the federal authorities. The 
council met at Fort Smith, September 8, instead of at Arm- 
strong Academy. A great multitude of chiefs, warriors, sa- 
chems, headmen, women, and children were assembled at 
Fort Smith on the appointed day. Milton W. Reynolds, a 
noted correspondent, has left us a vivid picture of that coun- 
cil.^ It was a most notable gathering. '' On the part of the 
government such distinguished statesmen and generals as 
W. T. Sherman, General Parker, Governor Stanley of Min- 
nesota, Senator Henderson of Missouri, and Judge D. N. 
Cooley, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, acted as commis- 
sioners. The representatives of the Indian tribes were no 

1 Rock, Marion Tuttle, Illustrated History of Oklahoma (Topeka, Kansas, 
1890), pp. 8-9. At the time Mr. Reynolds wrote the article for Rock's 
history he lived at Edmond. He died there in 1890, just after being elected 
to the first territorial legislature. 



128 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

less conspicuous and brilliant. . . . Their great leaders, John 
Ross and Colonel Pitchlynn, were still living, and were active 
participants in the grand council. . . . Colonel E. C. Boudinot 
was then a comparatively young man, the most gifted and 
powerful in eloquence of all the Cherokees. Just out of the 
Confederate Congress at Richmond, as delegate from the 
Cherokees [sect. 129], ... he was a pronounced figure in 
the convention, and though difficult to restrain, he gradually 
became conservative, and his ancient loyalty to the govern- 
ment was restored." 

148. Terms offered the Indians. The commissioners were 
charged with making known to all the tribes of the South- 
west the pohcy of the government toward them. The Indians 
were told that peace had been proclaimed, that the work of 
reconstruction was now being carried on between the North 
and South, and that the former relations of the semicivilized 
tribes with the government must be restored. The general 
terms were these : 

1. Since the tribes had gone into rebellion, they had for- 
feited all treaty rights, and all the property once owned 
by them was now under the ban of confiscation. The gov- 
ernment, however, was not disposed to deprive them of 
a home. 

2. Their slaves must be declared freedmen and have the 
same rights as themselves if they chose to remain members 
of the tribe. 

3. Their large reservations must be curtailed so that the 
freedmen and loyal Indians from the North might have 
homes among them. 

4. The policy of the government to unite all the Indian 
tribes into one consolidated government must be accepted. 



RECONSTRUCTION AND REORGANIZATION 129 

These conditions were a hard blow to the Indians, but they 
were helpless. Not only must they divide up their lands with 
their ex-slaves, but other tribes of Indians must be given 
homes. Prominent men from Kansas were present at Fort 
Smith and insisted strenuously upon this provision. Kansas 
was plastered all over with Indian reservations, and wanted 
to get rid of the Indians who owned all of her western plains 
and much of her choicest land in the southern portion of the 
state. Now was her opportunity, and she did not propose to 
let it slip. The Indians protested loudly. So many tribes 
were represented, and there were so many conflicting inter- 
ests, that nothing definite was done at Fort Smith ; but an 
agreement was made to meet in Washington the next year 
(1866) and there ratify separate treaties with each tribe, in 
accordance with the above stipulations. 

149. The Treaties at Washington. According to agree- 
ment, the Indians met the next year at Washington to ratify 
treaties with the government. The conditions as set forth in 
the preceding section were put into definite form, but the 
articles differed slightly for each tribe. It took months to 
negotiate all these treaties. The Seminole treaty was signed 
in March, while that of the Cherokees was not agreed to 
until July 9, 1866. Each of these agreements set forth in 
express terms : 

1 . That amnesty was declared and peace must rule between 
all Indian tribes. 

2. That slavery must be abolished. 

3. That freedmen must be received into the tribes just as 
if they were Indians, except that they were not to share in 
the annuities. The right to vote at all tribal elections was 
given to all the ex-slaves, and also to the free negroes who 



I30 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

lived in any of the Five Nations at the time the Fort Smith 
treaty was made. 

4. That loyal Indians were to receive pay for losses sus- 
tained during the war. 

5. That each tribe must agree to grant right of way to 
railroads desiring to build across the Indian Territory. 

6. That a detailed form of territorial government uniting 
all the tribes was expressly accepted. 

7. That each of the Five Civilized Tribes had to surrender 
its western lands. 

150. Lands surrendered by the Five Tribes. The Semi- 
noles gave up all their lands, for which the government gave 
them fifteen cents an acre. The government also agreed to 
get for them two hundred thousand acres of the land lo- 
cated between the two Canadians, which the Creeks had to 
surrender. For this they had to pay fifty cents an acre (map, 
p. 137). The Choctaws and Chickasaws made their treaty 
together, because they held their land in common. They 
had to give up all their domain west of the 98th meridian,^ 
— the region known as the "leased district," which the 
federal government had previously rented from these tribes 
(sect. 78). The United States government was to give these 
two tribes three hundred thousand dollars for this vast area, 
which includes all of southwestern Oklahoma, known as the 
Kiowa-Comanche-Caddo country. One fourth of this was to 
go to the Chickasaws and three fourths to the Choctaws, on 
condition that they took care of their negroes, as stipulated 

1 The Chickasaw National Council never ratified their treaty, while the 
other four Indian legislatures did. Years afterwards the Chickasaws sued 
the federal government in the court of claims and got money damages 
for the land they had been compelled to give their ex-slaves, but the suit 
for damages for the " leased district " as yet has never been settled. 



RECONSTRUCTION AND REORGANIZATION 131 

in the treaty, within two years. If they did not, the entire sum 
was to be used by the United States in removing the freed- 
men and founding a home for them elsewhere. The Creeks 
surrendered the western half of their dominion. The govern- 
ment was to survey the division line and pay the Creeks thirty 
cents per acre for the ceded lands. As in the other treaties, 
it was stipulated that these lands were receded " to locate 
other Indians and freedmen thereon." A portion of this 
region so receded was never given to any tribe (see map, 
p. 179), but remained vacant. It was this land that David L. 
Payne and his Oklahoma boomers insisted should be opened to 
settlement (sects. 186-187). The Cherokees were dealt with 
more leniently, probably because Union sentiment was much 
stronger among them. The United States could settle civi- 
lized tribes east of the 96th meridian, that is, in the Chero- 
kee nation proper, on agreement with the tribe. West of the 
96th meridian in the Cherokee Outlet wild tribes could be 
settled, but the lands thus taken were to be paid -for at a 
price to be determined later. Thus it will be seen that the 
Cherokees did not lose all their western country at this time, 
and it had to be purchased later, previous to the Cherokee 
Strip opening (sect. 201). 

151. How the Tribes settled with their Ex-Slaves. All 
the Civilized Tribes held slaves at the time of their migra- 
tion west. The Seminoles had long married with the run- 
away negroes who came among them, and it is difficult to say 
that slavery as it was known in America existed among them. 
But in the other tribes slavery was well established. "In 1836 
Albert Gallatin stated that the number of plows in the Five 
Tribes answered for the number of able-bodied negroes."^ 

1 Extra Census Bulletin, " The Five Civilized Tribes" (1894), p. 7. 



132 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

While this negro population was not large, yet it was the 
chief agricultural force in all the tribes. We have noted 
(sect. 149) that each tribe had to agree to make suitable 
provision for its ex-slaves. In all the tribes those freedmen 
and the negroes residing in any of the Five Nations at the 
time the treaty of F'ort Smith was ratified were to have 
exactly the same privileges in the Indian governments as the 
Indians themselves. They were to be allowed to vote and 
hold office and were to be assigned lands. In the Seminole 
and Creek tribes since the Indians had largely intermarried 
with the negroes, and this stipulation was willingly accepted ; 
but in the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw nations it was 
bitterly resented. We find no slave census previous to the 
Civil War, but there were approximately fifteen hundred 
Cherokee slaves,^ four thousand Creek, two thousand Choc- 
taw, and one hundred and twenty-nine Chickasaw. In the 
Seminole nation slave and master lived on such terms of 
equality that slavery can hardly be said to have existed there. 
Because of long delays there were thousands of descendants 
of these ex-slaves to go on the tribal rolls when they were 
finally made up. According to the Report of the Commis- 
sioner of the F^ive Civilized Tribes for the year ending June 
30, 1908 (p. 37), the rolls when finally made up contained 
5994 Choctaw freedmen, 4670 Chickasaw, 4924 Cherokee, 
6807 Creek, and 984 Seminole ex-slaves or descendants of 
ex-slaves. Thus the longer the allotment of land was put off, 
the more negroes there were to receive lands. The freedmen 
in each tribe did not receive the same amount of land. This 

1 These negroes were declared free by the Union faction of the Cher- 
okees, February, 1863. I get the above figures from Beadle, J. H., The 
Undeveloped West, pp. 424-425. The census for 1S90 gives the number 
of Chickasaw negroes as but one hundred and twenty-nine. 



RECONSTRUCTION AND REORGANIZATION 133 

was because the areas and the number of citizens in the 
respective nations differed. In the Choctaw and Chickasaw 
treaty it was expressly provided that the freedmen should 
receive forty acres each. The Seminole negroes were given 
one hundred and twenty acres, and the Creek ex-slaves and 
their descendants each received one hundred and sixty acres, 
while those in the Cherokee nation were allotted one hun- 
dred and ten acres apiece. 

152. Removal of Minor Tribes to Oklahoma. Probably 
the provision that was of most importance to the Indians at 
the time the AVashington treaties of 1866 were made, was the 
stipulation for the settlement of other Indian tribes in the 
Five Nations. When the treaties were signed it was expected 
that large numbers of other Indian tribes would be actually 
enrolled among the Civilized Tribes. But there was so 
much objection to sharing their lands and tribal funds with 
outsiders that this was not done except in the case of the 
Delawares. Kansas and Nebraska were so anxious to get 
rid of their Indian population that no time was lost in mak- 
ing removal treaties. In 1866 the Delawares and some of 
the Shawnees sold all their lands in Kansas to the Missouri 
River Railroad Company and moved to the Cherokee coun- 
try, where they became a part of the nation, having all the 
rights and privileges of Cherokees. A few of the Delawares 
had been adopted by the western Cherokees previous to 
1820. Another portion of this tribe in 1828, under the 
leadership of Black Beaver,^ had refused to settle in Kansas, 
and had gone to the Wichita country and established homes 
near Anadarko. They had been driven out of here by the 

1 Black Beaver was Marcy's chief scout on his Red River expedition 
(sect. 26). 



134 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

Confederate Indians in 1861, but Black Beaver returned 
after the war. About one hundred of the Delawares pre- 
ferred not to settle in the Cherokee country, and joined 
Black Beaver and his friends at the Wichita agency. It is 
worth noting that Black Beaver was one of the most shrewd 
and reliable scouts that ever served the government during 
the war, and that the Delawares sent to the Union army one 
hundred and seventy out of their two hundred and one able- 
bodied men.i During the next few years a large number of 
tribes were located in Oklahoma. We cannot here give the 
details of the removal of each of these Indian clans to our 
own state. By the use of the map (p. 137) you can learn 
where these tribes were located. 

153. Tribes in Northeastern Oklahoma. By the treaty 
of February 23, 1867, the Ouapaws surrendered a little 
strip of land which they owned in Kansas, and moved to 
Oklahoma. The confederated Peorias, Kas-kas-ki-as, Weas, 
Pi-an-ke-shaws, and Miamis were given a small reservation 
just south and west of them. South of these confederated 
tribes the Ottawas were located, and the eastern Shawnees 
retained a small part of the land they had previously owned 
jointly with the Senecas. The Wyandottes were given another 
strip of the old Seneca reservation, and finally the Kansas 
and Oklahoma Senecas were joined in the most southern of 
these little reservations. Much later, in 1874, the Modocs,^ 

1 Extra Census Bulletin, "Five Civilized Tribes " (Washington, 1894), p. 44. 

2 In 1872 some hostile Modocs retreated to the lava beds of Oregon, 
where for almost a year they defied the troops sent against them. A con- 
ference held April 11, 1873, was broken up by the Modocs attacking the 
commissioners, killing General Canby and others sent to treat with them. 
The Indians were finally captured, and their leaders, Captain Jack and 
three others, were hanged. One hundred and forty-eight of this band were 
then transported to Oklahoma, where they still reside. 



RECONSTRUCTION AND REORGANIZATION 135 

after their defeat in the Modoc War, were settled in the north- 
eastern corner of the eastern Shawnee reservation. All these 
tribes live in what is now Ottawa County. Their land has 
been allotted, and all but the Modocs have become citizens 
of Oklahoma as well as of the United States. 

154. Tribes located in the Cherokee Strip. Some Osages 
had resided in northeastern Oklahoma from the time Cler- 
mont's band had settled there, possibly in 1802 (sect. 17). 
But after leaving Missouri the greater portion of the tribe was 
domiciled in Kansas (see map from Schoolcraft, p. 74). In 
1870 this portion of the Osages ceded its Kansas lands and 
took a reservation in the Cherokee Strip east of the Arkan- 
sas River and west of the 96th meridian. This tribe was 
the last to take its lands in severalty, the allotments being 
made in 1909. The Osages have managed their business 
affairs shrewdly and are reputed to be the richest community 
in the world. Each man, woman, and child in the tribe, it is 
estimated, owns property worth approximately $40,000. In 
1873 the Kaws purchased a reservation in Oklahoma from 
their kindred, the Osages. The tribe had decreased from 
thirteen hundred in 1850 to but five hundred and ninety- 
three in 1872, just before they moved to Oklahoma.^ The 
Nez Perces in 1878, under the leadership of Chief Joseph, 
waged a remarkable campaign against the United States 
forces under Generals Howard, Crook, and Miles. The Nez 
Perces finally surrendered at Bear Paw Mountain and were 
taken prisoners of war, first to Fort Leavenworth and then 
to the Nez Perces reservation in the Cherokee Outlet. The 
tribe by this time had dwindled to but four hundred and 

1 The Kaws are one of the less progressive tribes, yet one of the United 
States senators from Kansas, Charles Curtis, is a member of this tribe. 



136 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

ten members, counting women and children. The Indians 
pined for their mountain home, and in 1883 a few of them 
were transported to a new reservation in Idaho and Wash- 
ington. Two years later (1885) the rest of the tribe was al- 
lowed to return. The Ponca Sioux were given a reservation 
in what is now part of Kay and Noble counties on the 
Arkansas River. In 1876 the Poncas came from the Dakota- 
Nebraska boundary to live in the northeastern portion of the 
Cherokee country. They were annoyed by whisky sellers, 
intruders, and horse thieves, and in 1878 President Hayes 
allowed them to settle on a reservation southeast of the Nez 
Perces. The Tonkawas, we remember, during the Civil War 
(October 25, 1862) were set upon near Anadarko and half 
their number massacred (sect. 140). They then fled to their 
old homes in Texas. In 1884 they were allowed to settle on 
the reservation in the Cherokee Strip abandoned by the Nez 
Perces the preceding year. The Otoes and Missouris came 
to Oklahoma (Noble County) from southeastern Nebraska in 
1882. The same year that the Poncas came to Oklahoma 
(1876) was also that of the migration of the Pawnees of the 
Platte. 1 They came from central Nebraska to lands that 
are now located in Pawnee County. About three thousand 
moved to Oklahoma at that time. These tribes, it will be 
observed, were all located in the Cherokee Strip (see map, 

p. 137). 

155. Minor Tribes located in Central Oklahoma. In 1867 
the Sacs and Foxes signed a treaty to move from Kansas to 
Indian Territory. They were located south of the Pawnees, 
upon land receded by the Creeks. They were the famous 

1 This tribe is in no way related to the Pawnee Picts, who are now always 
called the Wichitas. 




137 



138 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

tribe of Black Hawk and his successor, old Keokuk, who 
signed the treaty of removal. In 1876 the lowas were moved 
from northeastern Kansas to a reservation west of the Sacs 
and Foxes and north of the Kickapoos. In 1872 they num- 
bered two hundred and twenty-five. 

The Kickapoos were located west of the Sacs and Foxes in 
in 1873. This tribe was originally from Wisconsin. From 
there it went to the Wabash, was later forced into Illinois, 
then into Missouri, and from Missouri into Kansas. A major- 
ity of the tribe became disgusted and refused to remain on 
the reservation. They ranged as far south as Mexico and 
made no end of trouble by their looting and plundering. 
The Kansas Kickapoos finally took their lands in severalty 
and became citizens of that state, but the Mexican Kickapoos 
caused much trouble by raiding across the border. In 1873 
between three and four hundred of the Mexican Kickapoos 
were induced to return to the United States and were given 
lands in what are now parts of Lincoln, Logan, and Okla- 
homa counties. Since the allotment of their lands in 1895 
most of them have disposed of their claims and returned 
to Mexico. 

The Shawnees became permanently separated in 1825, 
when one of the bands refused to settle in Kansas on a reser- 
vation and went to Texas, wandering about upon the plains 
as they pleased. These Indians have ever since been known 
as the Absentee Shawnees. They later settled in the Creek 
nation and accumulated some wealth, which the Civil War 
swept away, and they fled to Kansas. In 1866 they were 
given a reservation west of the Seminole nation. Two years 
later they were joined by the Citizen Pottawatomies, a tribe 
which had sold its surplus land in Kansas and had accepted 



RECONSTRUCTION AND REORGANIZATION 139 

allotments, becoming Kansas citizens. This is why they were 
termed " Citizen " Pottawatomies. They were not sufficiently 
advanced, however, for citizenship at the time it was given to 
them, and therefore were glad to dispose of their Kansas 
allotments and again become reservation Indians in Okla- 
homa. It is interesting to note that Tecumseh, probably the 
greatest Indian that ever lived, was a Shawnee. ^ 

1 The Shawnees of Ottawa County were a small branch of the tribe that 
had long been confederated with the Senecas. The Black Bob Shawnees, 
so called because of their chief of that name, eventually took allotments 
and became citizens of Kansas, 



CHAPTER XV 
RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 

156. Plains Indians refuse to remain on Reservations. 

Most of the tribes that settled in the eastern or central por- 
tion of the Territory came not of their own free will, but 
because they were forced to move. These. Indians, except the 
Seminoles (sect. 65), were too civilized to think of waging 
war against the United States government ; but the Plains 
Indians, ignorant children of the prairie, in no way realized 
the mighty forces that could be brought against them, and, 
refusing to submit to authority, heedlessly plunged into war. 

157. Civil War chiefly Responsible for This. The Civil 
War was chiefly responsible for this condition of affairs. At 
the beginning of the war the regular army was withdrawn 
not only from Oklahoma (sect. 105), but from Kansas and 
all the trans-Missouri country. This removed the natural 
guardians of the wild tribes of this region. We have seen 
that early in the war the Union Indians of southwestern Okla- 
homa were driven into Kansas (sect. 117), and that later the 
Tonkawas, a Confederate tribe, were assailed and forced to 
flee to Texas (sect. 140). There was tumult and confusion 
everywhere. This disturbed condition of affairs gave all the 
Indians who dwelt along the eastern slope of the Rocky 
Mountains, from Canada to Mexico, opportunity to do as 
they pleased. The titanic struggle that was going on for 
the preservation of the republic left little time to deal with 
predatory bands of Indians. 

140 



RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 141 

158. Plains Indians not all Bad. Thus while it was true 
that certain bands of Indians, following their natural instinct, 
began to attack immigrants and settlers, yet it is now well 
established that no considerable number of any tribe engaged 
in such raids. It is also well established that vicious white 
men, when the army was gone, attacked, robbed, and often 
killed small parties of Indians, for the frontiersmen of 1 860 
and 1865 could see little good in any Indian. The Indians, 
to retaliate, would waylay whites whenever they could find 
them, never taking pains to find out whether or not the 
white men they attacked were the same ones who had in- 
jured them. Such a state of affairs could not but lead to 
" Indian outrages " from the Dakotas to Texas. But the 
greatest outrage was not committed by Indians. 

159. Sand Creek. " In June, 1864, Governor Evans, of 
Colorado, sent out a circular to the Indians of the Plains, in- 
viting all friendly Indians to come into the neighborhood of 
the forts, and be protected by the United States troops." ^ 
The friendly Arapahoes and Cheyennes were told to go to 
Fort Lyon, Colorado, where they would be given provisions 
and a place of safety. Accordingly Black Ketde's band of 
Cheyennes, several hundred in number, settled down at Fort 
Lyon, where they lived on the best of terms with the sol- 
diers and white settlers in that vicinity. Later they were told 
to remove to Sand Creek, about forty miles from the fort, 
where they were still guaranteed "perfect safety." At day- 
break of November 27, 1864, Colonel J. M. Chivington, in 
command of the First Colorado Volunteer Cavalry and a 
detachment of regulars, attacked the Indian camp without 
warning and without provocation. The United States flag 

1 Jackson, Helen Hunt. A Century of Dishonor, p. 343. 



142 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

was floating over the lodge of Black Kettle. As the soldiers 
advanced, White Antelope, always known as a friendly In- 
dian, came running toward them, holding up his hands and 
crying " Stop ! stop ! " in English. When he saw that it was 
no mistake, but a deliberate attack, he folded his arms and 
waited until he was shot down. The Indians had been com- 
pelled to surrender all their weapons when at Fort Lyon, and 
now they were ruthlessly murdered. Women and children 
were killed and scalped, babies were shot at their mothers' 
breasts, and offenses almost impossible to believe were com- 
mitted against these unhappy people. These facts were later 
sworn to before an investigating committee of Congress. It 
is more than probable that some of the Cheyennes who re- 
ceived supplies at Fort Lyon did slip away and raid trains 
on the Platte River road, but how this could justify the 
bloody business at Sand Creek was never explained by 
Colonel Chivington or his supporters. 

160. Little Arkansas Treaties. Even the Sand Creek 
massacre did not make all of Black Kettle's band hostile. 
The next year, October 14, 1865, at the mouth of the Little 
Arkansas, near the present site of Wichita, Kansas, the 
Cheyennes and Arapahoes made a treaty, agreeing to move 
to a reservation as soon as it was possible. In this treaty 
the federal commissioners in express terms denounced the 
Sand Creek outrage and made what amends they could to 
Black Kettle. 1 At the same place four days later the Kiowas 
and Comanches agreed to move to an Oklahoma reservation 
when so directed by the President. The Apaches of the 
Plains were, at this time, allowed to abandon their alliance 
with the Kiowas and Comanches and join the Cheyennes 

1 He and other Cheyennes were given extra land. 



RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 143 

and Arapahoes, but the next year at the Medicine Lodge 
treaty they again joined the Kiowa-Comanche league. 

161. Medicine Lodge Treaties. But the frontier, despite 
treaties and a large force of regulars, failed to become quiet. 
Indians kidnaped white women and children and attacked 
isolated settlers or movers. This was almost always done by 
small parties of young braves, but it is certain that the older 
chiefs protected these young men in their forays and refused 
to give them up when demanded. At Medicine Lodge 
Creek, seventy miles south of Fort Earned in Kansas, a 
great council of all the Plains Indians was held in October, 
1867, in order to induce these Indians to cease their depre- 
dations. Milton W. Reynolds (sect. 198) has brilliantly de- 
scribed this meeting : 

It was a great council on the part of the Indians. At first they were 
sullen and morose and not disposed to treat ; they were hungry and 
mad. They were filled, and, after feasting, they became better natured. 
It was at this council that I heard Satanta [sect. 171], in the presence 
of General Sherman, boast of the men he had killed and the horses he 
had stolen " up at Earned." He rode a big black horse branded '' U. S." 
Satanta was a fiery speaker, vehement, impetuous, tumultuous as a 
torrent, generally believed to be a common liar and a most consummate 
scoundrel. Kicking Bird was the second chief of the Kiowas and after- 
wards became principal chief. He was a good Indian. I slept in the 
same tent with him. He once saved my life.^ 

Besides General Sherman, many other high army officers 
were present, among them Generals Sheridan, Hancock, 
Harney, Terry, and Augur. After the Indians had been 
fed, and after much insolence had been submitted to from 

1 Reynolds after this always used " Kicking Bird " for his nom de plume 
or pen name. Quoted in Thoburn and Holcomb's History of Oklahoma, 
p. 113. 



144 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

unruly Indians like Satanta/ treaties were finally signed by 
the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, the Kiowas and Comanches, 
and the Apaches of the Plains (sect. 167). Definite reser- 
vations were assigned them in western Oklahoma.^ 

162. The Solomon River Raid. The Indians were always 
in favor of peace during the winter. They would then come 
into some fort, draw rations, and be "good Injuns." But 
when grass began to grow, when they could get food for 
their ponies and game for themselves, then the more reck- 
less of them would steal away from the forts and again com- 
mit depredations. This happened times without number, 
and it was not surprising that raiding began the next year 
after the Medicine Lodge treaties. The Indians needed a 
severe lesson. The pity of it is that the innocent had to be 

1 Milton W. Reynolds wrote concerning this gathering on the Medicine 
Lodge as follows : " On one occasion we came very nearly being gobbled 
up by the Indians, and probably would have been but for the presence 
of two old Indian fighters, Governor Samuel Crawford (of Kansas) and 
General Wilham S. Harney. It was a dull, dreary day. Listlessly and 
lazily the drops of rain drizzled all day long. Towards evening the Indians 
became restless ; they moved about sullenly, sluggishly, and slow ; they 
would not come into the council. Governor Crawford called General 
Harney's attention to the unpleasant signs which, to his practiced eye, were 
plainly visible. The troops of the escort were at once drawn up in a hollow 
square with the Peace Commission in the center, and a Gatling gun turned 
straight upon the camp of the Indians. Needless to say, there was no massa- 
cre such as occurred under similar circumstances in the lava beds of Oregon 
a few years later. After many days of powwowing the Indians treated. They 
were given homes in the Indian Territory. The commission gave away em- 
pires to the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache ; they 
were given anything they wanted in the way of lands and hunting grounds 
in the Indian Territory — anything to get them out of the state of Kansas." 

2 According to the Cheyenne-Arapahoe agreement they were to have 
all lands south of Kansas and north of the Cimarron, west of the Arkansas. 
This gave them the greater portion of the Cherokee Strip. They never 
lived on it. The confederated Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches of the 
Plains were to have the territory between the Washita and Red rivers, as 
marked upon the map, p. 137. 



RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 



145 



punished with the guilty. In August, 1868, a band of Chey- 
ennes came to Fort Hays, Kansas. It was evidently a war 
party, for no women and children were with them. They 
claimed, however, to be a hunting party, came into the fort, 
smoked the pipe of peace, and were given rations. Within 
three days this same band ruthlessly slaughtered the settlers in 
the valley of the Solomon and Saline rivers, and then rapidly 
withdrew to their unknown haunts in the wilds of western 
Oklahoma. It was claimed that Black Kettle headed this 
party, but there is no proof of it, although if any Indian had 
cause to lead a war party, it was this chief whose band had 
been so wantonly assailed at Sand Creek (sect. 159). Major 
E. W. Wyncoop, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe agent, always 
insisted that Black Kettle was in camp near Fort Larned at 
the time. At any rate, whether innocent or guilty, it was 
Black Kettle and his band of Cheyennes that were doomed 
to suffer for the offense. 

163. Battle of the Washita. General Philip Sheridan was 
in command in Kansas, and with his accustomed energy he 
proposed to punish the Indians at once. A regiment of Kansas 
volunteers was called for, which was speedily recruited by Gov- 
ernor Crawford of that state. It was mustered into the United 
States service as the Nineteenth Kansas Volunteers. This 
regiment and the Seventh United States Cavalry formed the 
punitative expedition. A place of rendezvous was established 
on Beaver Creek in the northwestern corner of what is now 
Woodward County, Oklahoma. It was named Camp Supply 
because of the large supply of provisions there. Later it was 
called Fort Supply^ (sect. 102). Winter came early that year, 

1 In 1899 the old barracks at Fort Supply were given to the territorial 
government for an insane hospital. Oklahoma accepted the gift in 1903. 



146 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

and on account of the heavy snow the Kansas regiment was 
delayed. But this snow proved an advantage to the soldiers. 
The Plains Indians could not fight in winter, since they were 
unable to secure provender for their ponies, and without them 
they were helpless. So the most effective way to deal a tell- 
ing blow upon them was to find and surprise one of their 
winter camps. This is what General Sheridan proposed to 
do. Let us follow the account of General George A. Custer, 
the brilliant cavalry officer of the Army of the Potomac, who 
was chosen by Sheridan to deliver the blow. 

164. Custer's Account of the Battle. Custer left Camp 
Supply with eight hundred mounted men of the Seventh 
Cavalry, with forty sharpshooters, and a considerable com- 
pany of scouts and Indian guides. The season was too far 
advanced to expect any of the Indians to be absent from the 
village; yet twelve miles up the Canadian, Major Joel H. 
Elliot, who commanded the advance, struck the trail of a war 
party leading a little east of south. He immediately reported 
to Custer, crossed the river, and followed the trail. General 
Custer was to hurry for\vard with the main body of the troops 
as rapidly as possible. When the main column struck the 
South Canadian it immediately crossed. The wagons were 
parked and eighty men were stationed as a guard. All tents 
and extra blankets had to be left behind. Each man took 
one hundred rounds of ammunition, a small amount of coffee 
and hard bread, and an equally small amount of forage for his 
horse. It was November 26, 1868, with a foot of snow on 
the open plains and the wind blowing bitterly cold. There 
was no stop for rest or refreshment. It was nine o'clock at 
night when Custer's column overtook Major Elliot's men, 
whose trail they had been following for hours. The united 



RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 147 

party stopped for an hour under the bank of a creek of good 
water. Small fires were built and each man had a cup of coffee 
and some *' hard-tack." Little Beaver, who acted as spokes- 
man for the Osage scouts, like all Indians was much opposed 
to a night attack, but the weary soldiers were hurried on down 
the creek by the impatient general. Two Osage scouts, three 
or four hundred yards in advance, led the command on foot, 
silent as panthers creeping upon their prey. Then came the 
rest of the Osages and white scouts in single file, ''among 
the rest, California Joe. With these," says General Custer, 
" I rode, that I might be as near the advance guard as possi- 
ble. The cavalry followed in the rear, at the distance of a 
quarter or half a mile. This precaution was necessary from 
the fact that the snow, which had thawed slightly during the 
day, was then freezing, forming a crust which, broken by the 
tread of so many hundred feet, produced a noise capable of 
being heard at a long distance. Orders were given prohibit- 
ing even a word being uttered above a whisper. No one was 
permitted to strike a match or light a pipe. In this silent 
manner we rode mile after mile." ^ At last the two Osages 
came upon the village. The column was halted, and for 
several bitter cold hours these men, while waiting for morn- 
ing, had to stand in the snow, not even being allowed to 
stamp their feet. Before daylight the Indian village was sur- 
rounded. Just at dawn all the companies that had silently 
taken their positions attacked the Indians in their wigwams. 
The band played "Garry Owen," and the cavalry, cheering 
and shouting, rode madly into the town. 

165. No One to give Indians^ Story. One can hardly judge 
of the consternation and surprise that this sudden attack 

1 Custer, G. A., My Life on the Plains (New York, 1874), p. 157. 



148 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

caused in the Indian village. Here they were in a winter 
camp, surrounded by their women and children. They 
imagined themselves in absolute security, miles away from 
any danger. The village was located on the headwaters of 
the Washita, not far from where Cheyenne, in Roger Mills 
County, is now situated. It was then one of the most inac- 
cessible spots in the whole United States. To be thus thrown 
from what they supposed was absolute security into the very 
jaws of death was indeed a rude awakening. But the Chey- 
ennes sold their lives dearly. There was but a handful of 
them — Custer could count the bodies of but one hundred 
and three braves after the fight was over. But these Indians 
had been trained to war from their infancy, and men, women, 
and children did not propose to be slaughtered without a 
struggle. They dropped behind trees, sought holes in the 
creek's bank, and, as best they could, returned the soldiers' 
fire. It seems that Black Kettle's camp was but one of 
a long chain of Indian villages that extended down the 
Washita, and the braves from these villages, hearing the 
heavy firing, came to investigate. They were joined by a 
few of the Cheyennes who had escaped from the trap. 
These fleeing Indians were pursued by Major Joel H. Elliot 
and fourteen men, who rode into the great body of Indians 
coming up the Washita and not one of them returned to tell 
the story. When General Custer realized that large numbers 
of Indians were concentrating in his front, he immediately 
gathered up the eighty-three women and children he had 
captured, shot eight hundred head of ponies, and burned the 
tepees of the Indians and all their winter stores. He then 
made a pretense of attacking the cloud of braves that had 
gathered from the lower Indian villages, but in the darkness 



RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 149 

wheeled to the north and was back at Camp Supply on 
November 30. Custer lost twenty-one men, two of these 
being officers, Captain Louis M. Hamilton, a grandson of 
Alexander Hamilton, and Major Elliot. E'ourteen Americans 
were wounded. The Indians lost the hundred and three 
braves before mentioned. One of them was the famous 
Black Kettle, and another was Little Rock, a prominent 
Cheyenne chief. General Custer was careful not to mention 
the number of women and children shot down by the soldiers. 
It is hard to make anything heroic out of the battle of the 
Washita. When almost nine hundred trained American sol- 
diers surround and surprise possibly one hundred and twenty- 
five sleeping Indians, it is not strange that the Indians get 
much the worst of the fight. 

166. Sheridan at Fort Cobb. On December 7, 1868, Gen- 
eral Sheridan left Camp Supply with Custer's regiment and 
the Nineteenth Kansas that had now joined the command. 
J. S. Crawford was colonel of the Kansas regiment, having 
resigned as governor to lead these troops. The soldiers 
revisited the battle field on the Washita, and found that 
Indian villages extended for a distance of twelve, miles down 
the stream. The Arapahoes, under Little Raven, had been 
camped next below Black Kettle's Cheyennes ; then came 
the Kiowas, under Satanta (sects. 161, 171) and Lone Wolf. 
More Cheyenne and Arapahoe villages followed, and in all 
there were six hundred lodges. The Indians had disappeared. 
" Nothing," says General Custer, " could exceed the disorder 
and haste with which these tribes had fled from their camp 
grounds. They had abandoned thousands of lodge poles, 
some of which were still standing," ^ and immense numbers 

1 Custer, G. A., My Life on the Plains, p. 196. 



I50 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

of camp kettles, cooking utensils, coffee mills, axes, and 
several hundred buffalo robes were left behind. The bodies 
of Major Elliot and fourteen of his men were found two 
miles below where the batde took place. They were in a 
ring with the bodies of their horses, where they had sold 
their lives as dearly as possible. Ma-wis-sa, a sister of 
Black Kettle, and Mo-nah-se-tah, a daughter of Little Rock, 
were taken by General Sheridan to Fort Cobb. The other 
Cheyenne prisoners were sent to Fort Hays. On the way 
south Satanta and Lone Wolf were taken prisoners. They 
had hurried down to Fort Cobb and obtained a letter from 
General W. B. Hazen, who was then superintendent of the 
southern Indians, in which it was stated that they were good 
Indians and friendly. This was a regular scheme of hostile 
braves. The old men, the women, and the children would 
draw rations while the unruly warriors assailed the whites. If 
the braves got into difficulties, as they did on the Washita, 
they would join the noncombatants and be good Indians for 
a time. There is no doubt that white men were often to 
blame for Indian uprisings, and there are also grave doubts 
whether Black Kettle was responsible for any of the Indian 
depredations. It was this chief's misfortune that his camp 
was the one Custer first came upon while following the In- 
dian trail down the Washita. But it is equally true that the 
Cheyennes and Arapahoes needed a severe lesson. ^ This 
they got at the battle of the Washita. It proved enough for 

1 In Satanta's camp on the Washita, Custer tells of finding a white woman 
and baby that had been knocked in the head and scalped. In the hurried 
flight of the tribe prisoners were not bothered with. The next summer 
the Cheyennes were compelled to surrender a Miss White and a Mrs. 
Morgan whom they had captured in "Kansas. These young women had 
suffered indignities too horrible to be repeated in print. 



RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 



151 



them, and has never had to be repeated. The greater part of 
the next year (1869) was spent by Generals Sheridan and 
Custer in trying to get the Indians to come and settle down 
about their respective agencies. 

167. Fort Sill Established. During the summer of 1868 
General Benjamin H. Grierson, colonel of the Tenth Cavalry 
(a colored regiment), had estab- 
lished Camp Wichita, so as to 
be near the Kiowa, Comanche, 
and Apache country. In January, 
1869, General Sheridan visited 
the camp and was impressed 
with the favorable location at the 
mouth of Medicine Creek on the 
east slope of the Wichita Moun- 
tains. He renamed the camp Fort 
Sill, after one of his classmates, 
General J. W. Sill, who was killed 
at the battle of Murfreesboro.^ In 
its vicinity were eventually located 
the Kiowas, Comanches, and the 
Apaches of the Plains, who were 
confederated with these tribes (sect. 161). Later the Apache 
prisoners of war were brought to Fort Sill from Alabama, 
and here they are still held. Geronimo, head chief of these 
Apaches, for years waged relentless war upon the settlers 
of Arizona and Mexico. Captured in 1887 by General 
Lawton, the old chief and his tribe were imprisoned at 




Geronimo, the Famous Apache 

Prisoner of War, who died in 

1909 



1 Fort Sill is now the largest military post in the United States. There 
are over one hundred thousand acres here belonging to the government, 
and the mountains afford splendid facilities for artillery practice. 



152 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

Pensacola, Florida, until 1 890. Then for five years the tribe 
was held at Mount Vernon Barracks, Alabama. In 1895 
these Apache prisoners of war were removed to Fort Sill. 
They have made remarkable progress, and there is little 
excuse for still holding them as prisoners. Geronimo died 
in February, 1909. He always pined for his Arizona home. 

168. The Wichita Agency. In the vicinity of Fort Cobb 
the Wichita agency (Anadarko) had been long established. 
Here were located the following tribes, which in 1880 num- 
bered 1250 : Wichitas (299), Ke-e-chi-es (126), Wacoes (140), 
To-woc-ca-roes (127), Caddoes (392), I-o-nes (85), Delawares 
(81) (sect. 83), and a few Anadarkos. These tribes proved 
much less troublesome than the Comanches and Cheyennes, 
and because of this, Fort Cobb was abandoned in 1869 
(sect. 102). 

169. Appointment of Quaker Agents. President Grant's 
administration marks a decided change in the government's 
Indian policy. Before this time the Indians were, as a rule, 
regarded as independent nations, to be warred with and con- 
quered, to be. tricked in treaties, and to be punished for .vio- 
lating obligations not understood. General Grant entirely 
reversed this policy. The Indians were henceforth to be 
regarded as wards of the nation. They were to be looked 
after and protected. They were to be punished if they needed 
punishment, but the policy of the government was not to 
cheat them and get rid of them, but to help and civilize 
them. The first step in this new policy was the appointment 
of the Quaker agents. The Society of Friends, ever since 
the coming of Penn, had been interested in Indian missions. 
These missionaries had often found that the rough, grasping 
men appointed as Indian agents did more harm among the 



RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 153 

Indians in a week than they could undo in years. Soon after 
the election of President Grant a committee of Friends from 
Philadelphia called on him. This committee asked that the 
President appoint religious men as Indian agents, so that 
they, in turn, would secure upright, moral men as agency 
employees. General Grant listened to the deputation with 
marked attention, and answered them at once: "Gentle- 
men, your advice is good. Now give me the names of some 
Friends for Indian agents and I will appoint them."^ The 
Quaker delegation was much surprised at the immediate 
success of their mission, and requested time for consultation. 
The names were soon after submitted to General Grant, and 
it thus came about that ten peace-loving Quakers soon found 
themselves on the frontier as Indian agents, striving to 
civilize and help these unruly wards of the nation. In 1869 
Laurie Tatum was appointed the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache 
agent at P^ort Sill, and the same year Brinton Darlington 
became the agent for the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. 

170. Indians continue to Raid. It was difficult indeed to 
hold the Kiowas and Comanches on the reservation. It was 
hard to convince the Indians that Texas was a part of the 
United States. For years they had plundered the white set- 
tlers of that state, murdering the men and carrying the women 
and children away. It was thus that Cynthia Anne Parker 
came to be the mother of Quannah Parker, the present head 
chief of the Comanches.^ After the arrival of agent Tatum 

1 Quoted in Thoburn and Ilolcomb's Oklahoma History, p. 131. 

2 She was captured at the age of nine years by the Comanches in 1836, 
when on one of their periodical raids into Texas. She grew to womanhood 
in the tribe and became the wife of the Comanche chief Fetch No-co-na. 
This chief was killed in a fight near Quannah, Texas, in i860, with the 
Texas rangers under Colonel L. S. Ross. At this time Cynthia Anne 



154 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

small bands of Indians would slip off to Texas, where they 
would murder and pillage, and then get back to the vicinity 
of Fort Sill before it was known that they were gone. "When 
questioned by the agent, the Indians would lie, declare that 
not one of them had been away," says Colonel Norvell, ''and 
the innocent old Quaker would believe them. It was not until 
horses and ponies stolen in Texas had been found in the 
possession of the Indians and fully identified, that he became 
suspicious of his wards." ^ In May, 1871, General W. T. 
Sherman, then commander in chief of the army, on a tour 
of inspection, started from Fort Richardson, Texas, for Fort 
Sill. He had traveled but a few miles when he suddenly 
came upon a wagon train that had been raided by the Indians. 
The wagons were still burning, and to the wheels were tied 
the teamsters, all of whom had been scalped. General Sher- 
man hastened to Fort Sill in the hope of heading off these 
raiders, but the Indians reached there about the same time 
the general arrived. Without losing a moment, the principal 
chiefs were summoned to appear in front of the quarters of 
the post commander. General Grierson. They came, and 
with them about two hundred of their armed warriors. 

171. Satanta and Satank. General Sherman, General 
Grierson, Mr. Tatum the agent, Horace Jones the inter- 
preter, and several others assembled on the porch. The In- 
dians were in an ugly mood. F'ortunately General Grierson 

Parker was restored to her people. But she pined for the people of her 
adoption and her two Indian sons. At the time of his mother's recapture 
by the Texas rangers Quannah Parker was eleven years old. He was for 
years the most irreconcilable of Comanche war chiefs, but to-day he con- 
sistently advocates everything that makes for civilization and progress in 
his tribe. He has a beautiful home near Cache in Comanche County. 

1 See account of Colonel S. T. Norvell, U.S.A., retired, in Oklahornaji^ 
Oklahoma City, for April 22, 1909. 



RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 155 

had ordered the cavahy to surround the Indians as soon as 
they assembled on the parade grounds. This precaution 
undoubtedly prevented a massacre. General Sherman told 
of what he had just seen in Texas and demanded the sur- 
render of three Kiowa chiefs, whose names he had in some 
way learned. When he made the demand, the Indians 
accompanying the chiefs began to show hostility, and for 
a moment the officers on the porch faced death. Then, 
after some hesitation, Satanta and Satank stepped forward, 
Satanta saying : 

" Yes, I led that raid. I have often asked for arms and ammunition 
which have not been furnished. I have made man}^ other requests 
which have not been granted. You do not listen to my talk. The white 
people are preparing to build a railroad through our country, which will 
not be permitted. Some years ago they took us by the hair and pulled 
us here close to Texas, where we have to fight them. More recently I 
was arrested and confined for several days, but that is played out now. 
There will never be any more Kiowa Indians arrested. I want you to 
remember that. On account of these grievances, a short time ago, I 
took about a hundred of my warriors to Texas to teach them how to 
fight. I took the chiefs Satank, Eagle Heart, Big Bow, Big Tree, and 
Fast Bear. We found a mule train, which we captured, and killed seven 
men. Two of our own men were killed, too, but we are willing to call 
it even. It is all over now, and it is not necessary to say much more 
about it. We don't expect to do much raiding around here this summer, 
but we do expect to raid in Texas. If any other Indian claims the 
honor of leading that party, he is lying about it to you. I did it 
myself."! 

172. The Chiefs Arrested. Satanta did not know General 
Sherman when he boasted that ' ' no more Kiowas would be 
arrested." He and Satank were immediately put under arrest, 
in spite of the threatening attitude of the two hundred Kiowa 
braves. Big Tree was not present, but he was found in the 

1 Quoted in Thoburn and Ilolcomb's Oklahoma History, p. 126. 



156 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

post trader's store. When the guard came to arrest him, he 
jumped through a window, taking the glass and sash with 
him, but was later captured by the post guard. These three 
chiefs were immediately sent to Texas for trial. ^ Satank was 
so unruly that he was killed by the soldiers the first day out 
from Fort Sill. Satanta and Big Tree were sentenced to be 
hanged by the Texas court that tried them, but their sentence 
was later commuted to life imprisonment in the Texas peni- 
tentiary. The Kiowas kept promising good behavior and 
imploring the return of the imprisoned chiefs. The federal 
government finally prevailed upon the Texas authorities to 
release them. The two chiefs were brought to Fort Sill by 
Governor Davis in person. They were paroled on good 
behavior in 1873. Satanta broke his parole the next year 
and was taken back to the Texas prison. Here he com- 
mitted suicide some years later. Satanta was a splendid type 
of Indian. He was a shrewd, capable leader of his tribe, but 
he refused to submit to the restraint of advancing civilization 
put upon him, and he had either to submit or be crushed. 
He refused to yield, and the fate overtook him that awaits 
every man, red or white, who refuses to be bound by the 
usages of civilized society. 

1 Satanta and Big Tree were in one wagon and Satank, who was so 
unruly that he had to be shackled, was in another, guarded by two soldiers. 
The story goes that Satank spoke to a Caddo Indian, George Washington, 
who rode by his wagon. " Satank wishes to send a little message to the 
Kiowas. Tell the Kiowas that Satank is dead. He died the first day out 
from Fort Sill. His bones are lying by the road. He wishes his people to 
gather them up and take them home." Then chanting his death song in a 
low voice, he wrenched the handcuffs from his wrists, tearing the flesh as 
he did it, and leaped upon the guards with a knife he had succeeded in 
concealing. The two soldiers jumped to the ground from the wagon. The 
enraged Indian seized one of their rifles, but before he had time to fire, he 
was shot down. His body was taken back to Fort Sill for burial. 



RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 157 

173. The Last Indian Outbreak in Oklahoma. The Chey- 
ennes at Darlington were fully eighty miles from the garrison 
at Fort Sill. Fort Cobb had been abandoned in 1869. These 
Indians often took the kindly treatment of the Quaker agent 
for cowardice. While they were promised certain rations, 
these were not furnished as regularly as they should have 
been, and thieving contractors supplied them with beef cattle 
that were so old and poor that the animals could hardly stand 
when brought to the agency for slaughter. The theory of 
the contractors was that anything was good enough for Indi- 
ans. So by 1873 the Cheyennes had forgotten Black Kettle 
and the Washita, and commenced to raid again. While the 
Kiowas and Comanches generally went south into Texas, 
the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, as a rule, made their forays 
into Kansas. It was, however, only a small minority of any 
of these tribes that thus pillaged. The great majority re- 
mained quietly on their respective reservations as they had 
promised to do. In 1874 the government was forced to make 
war upon the Indians. The Ouahada band of Comanches, 
the faction to which Ouannah Parker belonged, never had 
come into the reservation. In 1872 this band had been sur- 
prised by General R.S.McKenzie and suffered some losses.^ 
On June 25, 1874, they attacked a party of buffalo hunters 
at Adobe Wall in the Texas Panhandle, but were driven off. 
A war party of Kiowas and Comanches burned part of the 
Wichita agency building at Anadarko in August. The Chey- 
ennes attacked a train on the Chisholm Trail (sect. 184) near 

1 At this fight the Quahada Comanches lost but a few men, but General 
McKenzie captured most of their women and children. It was then, for the 
first time, that they came in. They were forced to give up the white women 
and children whom they held prisoners before they received back their 
own wives and offspring. 



158 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

the present town of Hennessey. They killed the three team- 
sters, and having captured Pat Hennessey, the train master, 
they tied him to a wagon wheel and burned him aliye. The 
Cheyennes pillaged as far north as the Republican valley 
in Kansas. 

174. General Miles restores Order. In the winter of 1874 
General Nelson A. Miles took personal command. He was 
an old Indian fighter and knew the Indian's inability to stand 
a winter campaign. He followed the hostile Comanches and 
Cheyennes relentlessly until they were forced to an uncon- 
ditional surrender. The braves were all put in jail ; the chiefs 
were chained. Those not captured by General Miles came in 
and surrendered themselves. This ended Oklahoma's Indian 
wars.^ 

175. Fort Reno Established. It was at first intended to 
locate the Cheyennes and Arapahoes in the Cherokee Strip 
(p. 144, note), and when General Custer returned to Camp 
Supply in 1869, an effort was made to have all the Chey- 
ennes and Arapahoes settle in its vicinity. Later these tribes 
were given all the Creek and Seminole lands west of the 
98th meridian, between the Cherokee Outlet and the Caddo- 
Comanche country (see map, p. 137). The agency was located 
at Darlington, where, removed from the influence of a fron- 
tier garrison, their Quaker agent hoped to civilize them. But 
the outbreak of 1874 made it necessary to locate a post in 

1 The flight of the northern Cheyennes from the DarHngton agency, 
September 9, 1878, resulted in a trail of blood from Fort Reno through 
western Kansas. These Indians had fought with Sitting Bull at the time 
Custer was killed on the Little Big Horn in 1876. The next year they 
were brought to the southern Cheyenne agency as a punishment. Dull 
Knife led this flight north. These Cheyennes were never brought back to 
Oklahoma, and later the rest of the northern Cheyennes were permitted 
to move to Pine Ridge. 



RESISTANCE OF PLAINS INDIANS 159 

their immediate vicinity. Fort Reno was established that year 
as a result of this need. 

176. Summary. Thus we see that in the ten years im- 
mediately following the war a large number of Indian tribes 
were located in Oklahoma. The more civilized tribes were 
placed in the eastern and central portions of the Territory, 
while the less civilized ones were given the extreme western 
portion of the Indian country. These tribes had to be com- 
pelled to recognize the federal authority, obey the law, and 
remain at home. Since they have learned this, they have 
progressed as rapidly as one could reasonably expect. 



CHAPTER XVI 
OKLAHOMA OPENINGS 

177. Plan of Government in the Treaties of 1866. All the 

treaties with the Five Civilized Tribes made at Washington 
in 1866 contained a more or less complete outline of a terri- 
torial government (sect. 149). There was to be a legislature 
of one house, composed of one delegate for each tribe, and 
extra delegates for each thousand Indians in the respective 
tribes. The superintendent of Indian affairs was to preside 
over this council and was also to act as governor of the 
Territory. There were to be territorial courts, and the 
Indian lands were to be surveyed and allotted. The council 
was to elect a territorial delegate, who was to have a seat in 
Congress and look after Indian interests.^ But these plans 
all came to nothing because Congress refused to pass an Or- 
ganic Act for the Territory (see Abbott's ''Oklahoma Civics," 
sect. 52). 

178. Origin of the Name Oklahoma, However, if Indian 
Territory failed to obtain a united, efficient government from 
the treaties of 1866, it at least obtained a most beautiful, 
mellow name. We have used the word Oklahoma to des- 
ignate the Indian country from the first page of this little 

1 Indian representation at Washington, we have seen, was suggested in 
the Delaware treaty of 1778 (sect. 33). Three such delegates were al- 
lowed seats in the Confederate congress at Richmond. Elias C. Boudinot 
was a delegate from the Cherokees to both the Confederate congresses, 
as was Robert M. Jones for the Choctaws and Chickasaws. S. B. Callahan 
represented the Creeks and Seminoles in the second congress of the Con- 
federacy. Rebellion Records, Vol. CXXIX, pp. 1189, 1191. 

160 



OKLAHOMA OPENINGS 



l6l 



history, but in reality Indian Territory was never called Okla- 
homa previous to 1866. Article VIII of section 10 of the 
Choctaw and Chickasaw treaty states that ''the Superintend- 
ent of Indian affairs shall be the executive of the said Terri- 
tory of Oklahoma." ^ This, so far as I can find, is the first 
mention of the word Oklahoma. The name was suggested 
by the Reverend Allen Wright, a 
full-blood Choctaw and at one time 
principal chief of the tribe. The word 
means '' red people," or ''red people's 
land"; thus Ok la means "people" or 
"land" in the sense of a nation, and 
houia means "red."^ At the time 
the first territorial bill was drawn in 
1867 Colonel E. C. Boudinot (sects. 
129, 147), the prominent Cherokee, 
suggested that this sonorous Choc- 
taw name be accepted. Until the first 
opening in 1889 (sect. 192), Okla- 
homa or Indian Territory meant all 
the Indian country. Then for almost 
twenty years there were two terri- 
tories, the unorganized Indian coun- 
try called Indian Territory, and Oklahoma, the organized 
western half of the future state. With statehood (1907) 
the two territories were again united as Oklahoma. 




Reverend Allen Wright, 

Principal Chief of the 

Choctaw Nation (1868- 

1S69) 

He first suggested the word 

Oklahoma as a name for the 

Indian country 



1 Senate Document No. 452, "Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties" 
(Washington, 1903), Vol. II, p. 705. 

2 This is also the derivation and meaning of the word given by the 
Reverend J. S. Murrow, for many years a Choctaw missionary and a 
thorough scholar, in Portrait and Biographical Record of Oklahoma (Chi- 
cago, 1901), p. 9. See Sturi}i''s Oklahoma Magazine (February, 1910), p. 46. 



1 62 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

179. Civilized Tribes opposed Territorial Organization. 

The Five Civilized Tribes were almost a unit against the 
bills which were before Congress from 1867 to 1889, seeking 
to establish an Organic Act for Oklahoma. They feared that 
if they gave the railroads large grants of land, and settlers 
were allowed to come into the Territory, grasping white men 
(''Yankees" they called them) would get everything away 
from the simple-minded full bloods, who were not able to 
trade and scheme with the whites. Thus they opposed any 
measure that would allow white settlement in their country. 

180. Okmulgee Constitution. Alarmed at the vigorous 
efforts being made in Congress to force upon them a form 
of government they did not want, the Indians decided to de- 
feat them by proposing a plan that suited them better and 
yielded less to white interests. An intertribal council met at 
Okmulgee, the capital of the Creek nation, from December 
5 to II, 1870, to decide what should be done. A committee 
of twelve men was appointed for the purpose of drafting 
a constitution that would unite the tribes of Indian Terri- 
tory in one government. William P. Ross, a nephew of the 
famous John Ross, was chairman of this committee. The 
constitution submitted by these gentlemen proposed a con- 
federation of the Indian tribes, the land to be surveyed and 
allotted, but the surplus land in each tribe to be held in 
common. Such railroads were to be allowed in the Terri- 
tory as the treaties required, and no more. But white men 
were to be as rigorously excluded as before. It was to be 
an Indian government, by Indians and for Indians. The 
leaders and a few of the more progressive tribesmen, espe- 
cially in the Cherokee and Choctaw nations, favored the Ok- 
mulgee plan ; no one, apparently, was in favor of territorial 



OKLAHOMA OPENINGS 1 63 

organization. 1 The Okmulgee constitution was not, however, 
defeated on account of its progressive features. The Chicka- 
saw legislature rejected the instrument because it provided 
for proportional representation. The Chickasaws were few in 
numbers and would be outvoted ; therefore they did not pro- 
pose to join any such union. This was the same objection 
that the small states made at the time the federal constitution 
was formed, but the Indians lacked ability to compromise 
their differences. 

181. Coming of the Railroads. Almost every step in the 
development of Indian Territory after the Civil War was in 
some way related to the treaties of 1866. This was especially 
true of the coming of the railroads. The Indians never looked 
with favor upon railroads ; the Plains Indians opposed them 
because they frightened away the game. The Civilized Tribes 
realized that with the railroads there would come an army 
of undesirable intruders. The treaties of 1866 excluded all 
intruders and at the same time required that railroads be al- 
lowed to cross the respective nations. The Indians knew that 
this was impossible, — that when the railroads came, white 
men would come with them. Therefore, to minimize this 
evil as much as possible, the Creek and Cherokee treaties 
provided that only two lines should cross their tribal land, — 
one running east and west, the other north and south. The 
Choctaw-Chickasaw and Seminole treaties contained no such 

1 Tandy Walker, a nephew of Ex-Governor Walker of the Choctaw 
nation, told Beadle that he was the only Choctaw in the district in favor of 
the territorial bill, and that there probably were not a hundred Choctaws 
in the nation who favored sectionalizing and admitting white immigrants 
(Beadle, The Undeveloped West, p. 399). E. C. Boudinot seems to have 
been the only leading Cherokee who favored the Oklahoma bill. His 
brother, William Boudinot, editor of the C/ierokee Advocate, in the spring of 
1872 opposed this bill, but he supported the Okmulgee constitution. 



1 64 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

stipulation. With the revival of business after the war, rail- 
road building was resumed in the Southwest. Congress in 
1866 passed an act granting a right of way across Indian 
Territory from Kansas to Texas to the first railroad that 
reached the border. In 1870 there was an exciting race as 
rival lines approached the Cherokee boundary. The Mis- 
souri, Kansas, and Texas won the victory.^ It crossed the 
Indian Territory border, June 6, 1870, entering the country 
through the fertile Neosho valley. It built a little west of 
south, passing through Vinita, Muskogee, and the McAlester 
coal fields on to Denison, Texas. In 1871 the Atlantic and 
Pacific entered the Territory from the east, and a little later 
built as far west as Vinita. This was a link in the once famous 
'' Thirty-fifth Parallel Road," which was to be extended to 
the Pacific Ocean as nearly as possible along this parallel of 
latitude. It is needless to say that it never became the great 
transcontinental line that its projectors expected it to be. 

182. Why the Railroads favored the Oklahoma Bill. The 
railroads, seeking entrance into Oklahoma, favored territorial 
organization in accordance with the bill then before Congress. 
The Indians were each to receive a quarter section of land, 
the rest to be ''public land." The charters of the Missouri, 
Kansas, and Texas Railroad gave it every section designated 
by an odd number for ten miles on each side of the track, 
" provided said lands became a part of the public lands of 
the United States." Thus, if this region was declared public 

1 " By Government charter this privilege [of crossing the Indian Ter- 
ritory] was granted to the two railroads which reached the border first. 
The Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Galveston road and the Kansas and Fort 
Scott road both started for it, but were distanced by the Missouri, Kansas, 
and Texas. . . . The Atlantic and Pacific reached it first from the east, early 
in 187 1." — Beadle, The Undeveloped West, p. 354. 



OKLAHOMA OPENINGS 1 65 

land, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad would receive 
absolutely free sixty-four hundred acres of Indian tod for 
every mile of track it laid. The grant to the Atlantic and 
Pacific road was even more liberal, being twenty sections 
to the mile, or twelve thousand eight hundred acres. The 
Indians would certainly have been compelled to yield to the 
clamoring settlers and to the vast commercial interests that 
financed these railroads, had not another industry, hostile to 
the settlement of this region, come to their assistance. F'or 
centuries the prairies of Oklahoma supported countless herds 
of buffalo. Encroaching civilization, and buffalo hunters who 
slaughtered these animals often for the mere lust of killing, 
had by the early seventies almost denuded the plains of this 
magnificent game. Railroads in Kansas and Texas brought 
farmers with them. As soon as the land began to be settled 
the cattle range was ruined. Naturally the cattle kings, men 
who had thousands and sometimes millions of dollars invested 
in hoof and horn, turned to Oklahoma for grass lands. Such 
men as J. Pierpont Morgan and Levi P. Morton (later Vice 
President of the United States) were directors of the Missouri, 
Kansas, and Texas Railroad. A railway through a poorly 
settled country is not a profitable investment. These great 
financiers of New York City, and others who were inter- 
ested with them, w^ould certainly have succeeded in having 
the Indian country open to settlement, had not cattle men, 
hardly less wealthy and more directly interested, strenuously 
opposed it. 

183. Reign of the Cattle Kings. The Indians of all the 
Civilized Tribes made wonderful advancement after the war. 
They came back to ruined homes and devastated farms. Their 
vast herds, their chief wealth, had all been seized, but they 



1 66 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

set resolutely to work to rebuild their homes and to reestab- 
lish their schools and their institutions. Their progress in 
the decade following the war was nothing short of marvelous, 
but they still did not occupy any considerable part of the vast 
region the government had given them. Since there were no 
slaves, white men were given permits to come in and work 
the Indian lands. Once in the Territory, it was almost im- 
possible to get rid of these intruders. They themselves 
turned to cattle raising, and by paying slight fees, sometimes 
to the tribal government but more often to corrupt Indians,, 
they fattened their herds on these tribal grass lands almost 
free of charge. On the ''unassigned land" (see map, p. 137) 
and in the Cherokee Strip the cattle men often occupied 
the land without even a pretense of lawful authority. When 
necessary they paid a nominal rent, called '' grass money," 
to the agent of the reservation tribes. The Cherokees still 
had a claim to all the Outlet not assigned to minor tribes, 
and eventually the pasture lands located here had to be leased 
from the Cherokee nation. But the cattle men obtained these 
leases on their own terms, paid grudgingly only what they 
were compelled to pay, and for a generation reigned supreme 
in Oklahoma. As these men grew wealthy, they held con- 
ventions ; they subsidized the press of Kansas and Texas by 
paying large sums for advertisements ; they entered politics 
in all the neighboring states, sending to Congress either cattle 
men or lawyers who were their attorneys and tools. Thus 
the cattle men made it possible for the Indians to hold their 
own country in their own way, for the nomadic, herder life 
which these men perpetuated in the country suited the tastes 
of most of the Indians much better than a more advanced 
civilization. 



OKLAHOMA OPENINGS 1 67 

184. Trails. During the Civil War immense herds of 
cattle and horses accumulated upon the Texas prairies. The 
war had also developed in the North a great demand for 
meat. The railway lines in Kansas made it possible for the 
Texas cattle men to seek the Chicago and St. Louis mar- 
kets. In 1866 began this first movement of range cattle 
northward. The stock was taken north by easy stages, graz- 
ing as it moved. Millions of head of cattle were thus driven 
to Northern markets during this period. The cattle would be 
shipped from convenient points in Kansas, until new railroads 
offered more accessible facilities in Oklahoma. These trails 
were frequently ten miles wide and shifted with the season 
and the shipping point for which the herd was headed. Also 
numerous wagon trails were established, generally leading 
from some convenient point on the Missouri, Kansas, and 
Texas Railroad to the forts in the western part of the terri- 
tory, and to the numerous agencies and missions established 
after the settlement of the minor tribes on the receded lands 
(sect. 150). Other trails led from railroad towns in Kansas 
and Texas. Possibly the most famous of these roads was 
the Chisholm Trail. It was laid out by Jesse Chisholm in 
the spring of 1865, and extended two hundred and twenty 
miles from the present site of Wichita, Kansas, to the 
Wichita agency at Anadarko. Government supply trains 
and cattle men regularly used this trail until the Rock 
Island Railroad invaded the territory in 1890. 

185. Building of Other Railroads. The cattle men, unlike 
the Indians, had no particular objection to the building of 
railroads if they did not bring with them settlers to preempt 
the range. In 1887 the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa ¥e com- 
pleted its line across the territory. It entered Oklahoma 



1 68 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

just south of Arkansas City and ran nearly due south to 
Texas, passing almost through the center of the territory. 
In 1889 the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific built south 
from Wichita, Kansas. By June, 1890, it had trains running 
to Minco in the northwestern corner of the Chickasaw County, 
and it eventually built south, paralleling the Santa Fe to Fort 
Worth, Texas. 

186. Oklahoma Boomers. As the desire for unoccupied 
lands grew, a large army of prospective settlers clamored for 
the unused lands of Indian Territory. These settlers joined 
forces with the railroads, and together they waged war on the 
cattle kings. On April 15, 1879, T. C. Sears, a prominent 
attorney of the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad, an- 
nounced that, with E. C. Boudinot, the eminent Cherokee, 
he had investigated the legal status of lands in the western 
portion of the Indian country, and they had learned that 
there were fourteen million acres of public land located there, 
which were subject to homestead entry. This appears to be 
the original discovery of the '' unassigned lands " (sect. 150), 
and immediately aroused much interest. Three "colonies" 
were at once organized to settle upon these lands. Two of 
them were to come south from Kansas and one was a Texas 
organization. April 26, 1879, President Hayes issued a proc- 
lamation forbidding the proposed settlement. One of the 
''colonies," under the leadership of Charles C. Carpenter, 
who in this way had three years before rushed the Black 
Hills region, in spite of the proclamation crossed the border 
May 7, 1879. He was promptly ejected by General Wesley 
Merritt in command of troops of the Fifth Cavalry. 

187. David L. Payne. It must have been during the win- 
ter of 1 879-1 880 that David L. Payne, a frontiersman of 



OKLAHOMA OPENINGS 169 

force and character, joined the - Oklahoma boomers; for in 
the spring of 1880 we find him energetically at work organ- 
izing another colony. He was by all odds the most unique 
and capable of the agitators who, during the next quarter of 
a century, completely routed the cattle kings and abolished 
the communistic titles of the Indians. David L. Payne was 
born near Fairmont, Indiana, in 1836. At twenty-one he 
came to Kansas, and three years later, at the beginning of 
the Civil War, he enlisted in a Union regiment, serving 
with distinction. On his return to Kansas he was elected to 
the legislature, became a captain in the Eighteenth Cavalry, 
and held a like position in the Nineteenth Kansas Regiment 
that accompanied Sheridan and Custer into Oklahoma imme- 
diately following the battle of the Washita. While in Wash- 
ington as assistant doorkeeper of the House of Representatives 
he learned of the plan to settle Oklahoma, and his love of 
adventure called him to the frontier. The spring of 1880 
found Captain Payne back again in Kansas, and from then 
until his death four years later the history of the efforts to 
colonize Oklahoma is little more than a biography of this 
man. Again and again presidential proclamations warned 
the boomers out of the forbidden territory, and as often 
would Captain Payne and his persistent followers return, 
only to be again ousted. The soldiers sent by the President 
to eject intruders never bothered the ranches of cattle men, 
although these were in the Indian country with no more 
legal right than the settler. When Payne and his followers 
were arrested and taken before a federal judge, the govern- 
ment would never force the case to trial. The matter would 
be put off from time to time, although Captain Payne, confi- 
dent of the justice of his cause, was always ready and anxious 



170 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

to have a legal hearing. As soon as he was out on bail or 
his case was dismissed, he would assemble another expedition 
and return to the forbidden district. Finally, all this agitation 
began to have the desired effect. The cattle men were put- 
on the defensive. It was then that they began to spend 
money lavishly with Kansas and Texas editors so as to 
mold public opinion. The story that Oklahoma was only fit 
for pasture, and that farmers could not possibly live down 
there, was told so often that the men who told the lie came 
finally to believe it. 

188. Captain Couch succeeded Payne. The sudden death 
of Captain Payne at Wellington, November 27, 1884, put 
something of a damper on boomer enthusiasm, although 
Captain William L. Couch, Payne's able lieutenant, the very 
next year led a formidable expedition into what is now 
Payne County. In January, 1885, Captain Couch was forced 
to withdraw. He made a second attempt in November of 
the same year, with no better success. This was the year that 
the Santa Fe built into the territory from Arkansas City 
(sect. 185), and the boomers were convinced that Oklahoma 
would soon be opened to settlement by legal proclamation. 
Invasion by ''colonies" was therefore given up, and agita- 
tion through the press, and particularly at Washington, was 
relied upon to open the country to settlement. But the 
Oklahoma Bill, introduced in 1885, fared as badly as all 
other Oklahoma bills. Congress adjourned in 1886 with 
the Indian country unopened. 

189. No Man's Land. Meanwhile, as time hung heavily 
on the boomers' hands, they turned their attention to No 
Man's Land. When Texas joined the United States in 
1845, all its territory north of 36^30' had to be surrendered, 



OKLAHOMA OPENINGS 1 71 

because, according to the Missouri Compromise, there could 
be no more slave territory north of that line (sect. 14). 
When Kansas was organized in 1856 its southern boundary 
was made 37°. This left a little strip of territory west of 
the 1 00th meridian, north of Texas and south of Kansas, 
long known as No Man's Land. It now constitutes the 
Panhandle of Oklahoma, Beaver, Texas, and Cimarron coun- 
ties. This region was unorganized land to which the 
Indians laid no claim. Shut out of Oklahoma, some of the 
boomers tried to find homes here. They could not see why 
they did not have as much right there as the cattle men, who 
used those limitless prairies for their own profit without let 
or hindrance. In the spring of 1887 it was estimated that 
six thousand people had entered this unorganized territory. 
The region had not yet been surveyed. There was no land 
office, and title could not be obtained to the land. With the 
characteristic instinct of the Americans for law and order, 
they set up a government of their own. 

190. The Territory of Cimarron. A claim board was 
organized to settle disputed land titles, and in March, 1887, 
a convention was held which organized the '' Territory of 
Cimarron." ^ This assembly then constituted itself a legis- 
lature and proceeded to enact laws for the territory it had 
created. A rival town to Beaver, Rothwell, then held a con- 
vention of its own, and rival delegates were sent to Wash- 
ington. The Rothwell delegate was John Dale. His idea 
was to get Congress to organize a territory before anything 
further was done. O. G. Chase, the Beaver delegate, sought 

1 It was named for the Cimarron River which flows through the Pan- 
handle. It is the Spanish word for the bighorn deer, carnero cimarron, thzt 
were once found in large numbers on the headwaters of this stream. 



172 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

to have Congress ratify the somewhat usual proceedings of 
the Territory of Cimarron. But without waiting for the action 
of Congress this self-constituted territory elected its second 
legislature in the fall of 1887. It was in session most of the 
following winter. This same winter, after Representative 
James Burnes of Missouri introduced a bill into Congress to 
provide for the organization of the Territory of Cimarron, 
enthusiasm ran high in No Man's Land. A full complement 
of territorial officers and a new delegate to Congress were 
chosen at the November election of 1888. Here the matter 
ended. The Territory of Cimarron was forgotten the next 
year (1889) when Oklahoma was opened, and we shall see 
that this ambitious commonwealth in 1890 was glad to 
become an Oklahoma county (sect. 197). 

191. The Springer Bill and the Oklahoma Rider. The 
persistent agitation for the opening of Oklahoma could not 
but have its results. Various bills were proposed to accom- 
plish this, but the matter did not get seriously before Congress 
until the winter of 1 887-1 888. The Indians, realizing the 
danger, kept a committee constantly at Washington to lobby 
against the measure, and the cattle kings used their vast 
resources and influence to prevent the passage of the bill. 
In March, 1887, at Eufaula, and in May, 1888, at Fort 
Gibson, intertribal councils were held to protest against the 
building of more than two railroads through Indian Territory, 
and also to oppose the proposed opening of the Territory to 
settlement. But the settlers had able supporters at Wash- 
ington, among them General James B. Weaver, afterwards 
Populist candidate for President, and William M. Springer 
of Illinois, one of the most capable leaders in the House of 
Representatives. A measure known as the Springer Bill was 



OKLAHOMA OPENINGS 173 

introduced to open and organize Oklahoma. It was finally 
put through the House of Representatives, but failed to pass 
the Senate. Then, during the closing days of the session, 
Mr. Springer and those Congressmen who favored the set- 
tlement of Oklahoma, not to be thwarted by the lobby of 
the cattle men, attached to the Indian Appropriation Bill a 
'' rider "1 to open Oklahoma. In this form the measure was 
forced through a reluctant Senate. One of the last official 
acts of President Cleveland in his first term was to sign 
this bill (March 3, 1889). 

192. The First Opening. President Harrison was hardly 
in office before he issued the first official proclamation throw- 
,ing Oklahoma open to settlement (April 22, 1889). The 
farmer had finally won in his long fight against the herds- 
man. The weary years of waiting on the border were at last 
at an end. The boomers, who had flocked to Washington 
during the debate on the Springer Bill, now hastened back 
to Kansas to prepare for the rush. Never was there such a 
race in the history of the world. Anglo-Saxons, proverbially 
land-hungry, had gathered here by thousands to seize upon 
the last available land in America. Since 18 19, when the 
Fort Smith soldiers ejected the settlers on the Kiamitia 
(sect. 22), this had been an interdicted region. P'or three 
quarters of a century the tide of migration had surged against 
this dyke ; finally it had given way, and in one mad rush 
the eager settlers hurled themselves upon the coveted fields. 
A glance at the map (p. 137) will show that the racers had 
to cross the entire Cherokee Strip, a distance of sixty miles, 

1 A " rider" is some insignificant bill that is not popular, which is attached 
to an important bill. The men who used this expedient would refuse to let 
the important bill that all Congress favored, pass unless their rider passed 
also. The rules of Congress no longer allow riders. 



174 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

before they arrived at the land open to settlement. The 
three days preceding the ''opening" were allowed for this. 
Men, women, and children, on horseback and on foot, with 
bicycles, buggies, wagons, and oxcarts, all gathered at the 
line as the hour of noon approached. The noise and con- 
fusion ceased as the moment for the start drew near.. With 
set faces these racers for a home closely scrutinized the offi- 
cer who, with watch in hand, awaited the appointed moment. 
Suddenly there was a puff of smoke from the carbines of the 
cavalrymen. The report was drowned in the mighty shout of 
the waiting thousands as they crossed the line. But on they 
went in breathless haste. The solid front shown at the mo- 
ment of the start was soon broken, and the forces of the. 
invading boomers seemed rather the wild rout of a defeated 
foe than the advance of an invading host. Most of the set- 
tlers came into the territory from the north, but considerable 
numbers also sought new homes from convenient locations in 
the Chickasaw country on the south and from the Pottawato- 
mie reservation, which joined the opened district on the east. 
193. Oklahoma Cities Settled. The ''rider" which opened 
Oklahoma to settlement was the hurried expedient of an 
almost defeated faction. It provided for no territorial gov- 
ernment, and no local laws were in force ; but it did stipulate 
that town sites could be laid out. These mushroom cities of 
the new country were the goal of many of the boomers. Santa 
Fe trains were run into Oklahoma City and Guthrie from 
both the north and the south. They were compelled to 
come under slow schedule so as not to outdistance those 
who came across country. A dozen places that were mere 
railroad sidings with a water tank, a section house, and a 
name, on the morning of April 22, 1889, before dark the 



OKLAHOMA OPENINGS 175 

same day were bustling cities with a swarming population of 
thousands. Guthrie and Oklahoma City were the chief cen- 
ters of attraction, but Stillwater, Edmond, Norman, El Reno, 
and Kingfisher all had sufficient population to make them 
Oklahoma cities of the first class on the day when they first 
became cities. According to the Census of 1 890 the territory 
had a population of 61,834. The number that entered the 
territory the year before was probably considerably larger, 
for many became discouraged during the winter and returned 
to their former homes. 

194. The " Sooners." It was provided that any one who 
entered the new country previous to the moment set for the 
opening should forfeit his right to hold land. But many 
a man, depending upon the confusion and the protecting 
shelter of some creek bottom, slipped by the cavalrymen and 
expected in this way to make prior settlement on a quarter 
section. Such a person was termed a "sooner." Many were 
the quarrels between the sooners and alleged sooners and 
bona fide settlers. Too often was there recourse to arms to 
settle these disputes. In this way Captain William L. Couch, 
Payne's able lieutenant and first mayor of Oklahoma City, 
lost his life. The dispute over town lots was just as bitter. 
In Oklahoma City rival land companies contended for pos- 
session of lots, and a bitter feud raged for months. But, 
everything considered, it was an orderly crowd that surged 
into the cities and onto the farms. There was but little law- 
lessness. City governments were at once organized, and 
while these had no real authority, according to the strict 
letter of the law, yet they were obeyed and proved as useful 
and efficient a means of maintaining order as were the wholly 
self-constituted governments of the New England Puritans. 



176 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

195. The Most Significant Fact in Oklahoma History. 

The student must not fail to note that the day Oklahoma 
was thrown open to settlement two trunk lines of railroad 
crossed the territory from north to south, and a third line 
was about to be opened south from Caldwell. This without 
question is the most significant fact in Oklahoma history. 
Men are slow to change their residence if this involves also 
a change of climate. By moving along parallel lines men 
keep in about the same temperature to which they are accus- 
tomed. They can thus raise the same crops and engage in 
the same business. History is full of this influence of climate 
over the migration of people. The Swedes settle in Minne- 
sota and the Dakotas because accustomed to the bleak winters 
of that latitude. Quite as naturally the German immigrant 
prefers the central section of the United States. Most of the 
states of the Union have been settled by a gradual movement 
of people from the region directly east of them. Thus Con- 
necticut was originally occupied by New England Puritans, 
and Kentucky's first inhabitants were Virginians. But Okla- 
homa is an illustration of arrested development. Had it not 
been that this region was set apart for the Indians, the 
settlers of Arkansas who occupied the valley of the Kiamitia 
in 1817-1818 would have been the ones to first occupy and 
hold Oklahoma (sect. 22). But the Indian country was closed 
to settlement so long, that when the migration did come, 
the natural lines of travel had been changed. Settlers came 
from the North and from the South. Thus we have a peculiar 
blending of Northern and Southern blood, due entirely to the 
facts that three great lines of travel crossed the territory hori- 
zontally, and that no railroad entered from the east the region 
opened to settlement. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, the 



OKLAHOMA OPENINGS 1 77 

much-heralded ''Thirty-fifth Parallel Route" (sect. 181), 
still languished at Vinita, while the Choctaw route, Okla- 
homa's main east-and-west line of travel, did not reach the 
Panhandle of Texas until 1903. This intermingling of North- 
ern and Southern blood in Oklahoma should produce a racial 
type peculiarly its own, for it has occurred nowhere else in 
America. 



CHAPTER XVII 
TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 

196. Organic Act. The Organic Act, legally establishing 
Oklahoma Territory and providing a form of government for 
the people who had rushed into the country the preceding 
year, became a law on May 2, 1890. Almost as soon as the 
rush was over, "provisional" city governments were estab- 
lished, and during the winter much dissatisfaction was shown 
because there was no government for the entire territory. 
A convention met at Guthrie, July 17, and one again on 
August 20, 1889, to organize a provisional government as 
had been done in the cities. This convention was rent by the 
jealousies of rival towns, and nothing more than a protest to 
Congress emanated from its stormy sessions. But Congress 
took its own time, and the territory was without a government 
for over a year. The Organic Act (see Abbott's " Oklahoma 
Civics," p. 28), w^ien it finally became law, provided that the 
President should appoint the governor, the secretary (secretary 
of state), and the judges of the supreme court. The governor 
was given authority to appoint all other executive officials. 
The legislature consisted of a council (senate) of thirteen 
members and a house of representatives of twenty-six. The 
supreme court judges also acted as district judges, and as 
the territory grew in size and population, the number of these 
judges was increased from three to five and then to seven. 

197. Local Self -Government. The greatest advantage con- 
ferred upon the people of Oklahoma by the Organic Act was 

178 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 



179 



local self-government. There were to be seven counties, desig- 
nated by numbers until the people adopted names for them 
(see map, below). These were numbered and named as fol- 
lows : one, Logan ; two, Oklahoma ; three, Cleveland ; four 




Oklahoma at the Time the Territory was Organized, showing Counties 
known by Numbers 

Canadian ; five. Kingfisher ; six, Payne ; and seven, Beaver. 
This last was No Man's Land, which, by a clause in the 
Organic Act, was attached to Oklahoma. President Harrison 
named, as governor, George W. Steele of Indiana, who entered 
upon his duties May 22, 1890. Governor Steele appointed 



l8o HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

the first county officers, but at the first regular election 
their successors were chosen by the voters of the respective 
counties. The Organic Act extended the laws of Nebraska, 
where applicable, over the newly organized territory, and thus 
the self-constituted, provisional city governments were done 
away with. 

198. Location of Public Buildings. On July 8 Governor 
Steele called a territorial election for August 5, 1890. The 
legislature was to assemble August 19, but was delayed be- 
cause of the deaths of Representative CM. Burke (August 
8) and Milton W. Reynolds (August 9). Mr. Reynolds, the 
newspaper correspondent previously referred to (sect. 161), 
was one of the best known and most respected citizens of 
the new territory. He had been elected councilman (sena- 
tor) from the territory at large, and thus his death necessi- 
tated another general election. When the legislature was 
finally assembled (August 29, 1890), it was found that while 
there were more Republicans than Democrats in both the 
council and the house, yet the* Democratic and Farmers' 
Alliance members received enough Republican aid to control 
both houses. This chagrined Governor Steele, who was an 
ardent Republican. It was not, however, party disloyalty 
that had resulted in this combination, but a zealous effort to 
secure certain public buildings. Guthrie had been made the 
temporary capital of the territory, much to the disgust of 
Oklahoma City, so an arrangement was made whereby Okla- 
homa City was to get the Capitol ; Norman, the state univer- 
sity ; Edmond, the central state normal school ; and Stillwater, 
the agricultural and mechanical college. Canadian County sup- 
port was won over by agreeing to move the county seat from 
El Reno to a paper city, named F>isco. The F'armers' Alliance 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT i8l 

members were induced to approve this agreement by making 
their only member in the upper house, G. W. Gardenhire, 
chairman of that body, and by electing A. N. Daniels, 
another Populist or Alliance man, speaker of the house of 
representatives. Republican delegates from Oklahoma City 
bolted their party organization to win the Capitol for their 
aspiring municipality. But Governor Steele vetoed all re- 
moval bills, while he signed all the measures locating educa- 
tional institutions. The struggle for the location of the 
capital was most discreditable. Accusations of bribery and 
fraud, not always false, were charged against overzealous 
partisans of both towns. Later the Capitol was voted to 
Kingfisher, but this bill also met with executive disapproval. 
The question of the permanent location of the capital has 
never been settled, and now (1910) a referendum is pending 
which seeks to locate the state's seat of government at 
Oklahoma City, although the Enabling Act provided that 
the actual removal of the Capitol could not take place pre- 
vious to 191 3. Subsequent legislatures established normal 
schools at Alva and at Weatherford, and made arrange- 
ments to look after the deaf and dumb of the territory as 
well as the insane. Previous to statehood all convicts were 
sent to the Kansas penitentiary (see Abbott's '' Oklahoma 
Civics," chap, xiii, for a full discussion of the state's edu- 
cational, eleemosynary, and penal institutions). 

199. Territorial Governors. Governor Steele was justly 
displeased at the conduct of certain members of the legis- 
lature. Disgusted with frontier life, he resigned before he 
had been in office a year and a half. On October 18, 1891, 
Judge A. J. Seay, who was one of the supreme court judges 
of the territory, succeeded him. Before he had completed 



1 82 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

the term for which he was appointed, Grover Cleveland was 
reelected President, and his administration was cut short, a 
Democrat, W. C. Renfrow, being appointed in his stead. 
Governor Renfrow was the first of the territorial governors 
to serve the full term of four years. He held the office from 
May 7, 1893, to May 24, 1897. Cassius M. Barnes of 
Guthrie succeeded Governor Renfrow. He too served a full 
term of four years. William M. Jenkins, also of Guthrie, 
succeeded Governor Barnes, April 15, 1901. He had been 
in office but a little over seven months when he was sum- 
marily removed by President Roosevelt because of dissatis- 
faction in connection with the administration of a sanitarium 
at Norman which had charge of the territorial insane. 
Thompson P. Ferguson, a newspaper man of Watonga, was 
next appointed governor. His administration reflected much 
credit upon' himself and upon the territory, and was the 
third to extend over the four years' term for which each 
of the governors was appointed. He was in office from 
November 30, 1901, until January 5, 1906, and was suc- 
ceeded by Frank Frantz, who had been captain in President 
Roosevelt's regiment of roughriders during the Spanish 
War. Governor Frantz served as chief executive of the 
territory until November 16, 1907, the day that statehood 
became a fact. 

200. Subsequent Openings. The " rider" (sect. 191) which 
opened Oklahoma to settlement contained a clause providing 
for the appointing of a commission to negotiate with the In- 
dians of Indian Territory for the return to the government 
of their surplus lands lying west of the 96th meridian. In 
July, 1889, following the opening, President Harrison ap- 
pointed three commissioners to enter upon negotiations 




Territorial Governors of Oklahoma 



A.J. Seay(iS9.-i893) 
Wm. M. Jenkins (igoi) 



Geo. W. Steele (iSqo-iSgr) 



Cassius M. Barnes (1897-1901) 



W. C. Renfrew (1893-1897) 



Frank Frantz (1906-1907) 
183 



T. P. Ferguson (1901-1906) 



1 84 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



concerning these lands. They first attempted to induce the 
Cherokees to recede to the government that portion of the 




Oklahoma in 1893, showing Counties known by Letters 

Cherokee Outlet not occupied by minor tribes. But the com- 
mission met with many obstacles, and the Cherokee Strip was 
not opened for settlement until 1893. Meanwhile treaties 
were entered into which opened the Iowa, the Sac and Fox, 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 185 

and the Pottawatomie- Shawnee reservations on September 22, 
1891 . The first row of townships east of the Indian meridian 
in this addition to the new territory was given to Cleveland, 
Oklahoma, and Logan counties, the rest of this region being 
designated as County A and County B. At the November 
election of 1892 the people of these counties named them 
Lincoln and Pottawatomie respectively (see map, p. 184). 
On April 19, 1892, the Cheyenne, and Arapahoe country 
was opened to settlement in like manner. This was the 
region extending west from Kingfisher and Canadian 
counties to the looth meridian. These two counties were 
rounded out by additions of territory on the west. The 
rest of the region was designated by letters ^ until names 
were adopted (see map, p. 184). In each of these openings, 
and in most of the others that have taken place in Okla- 
homa, each Indian on a given reservation was assigned a 
definite piece of land. After the Indians were all taken care 
of (that is, " allotted "), the rest of the land was thrown open 
to settlement. This was done at first by means of a run, but 
later the strife for the claims became so great that they were 
assigned by means of a lottery. 

201. Cherokee Strip. Finally, the catde kings of the 
Cherokee Strip were routed. The Cherokees ceded the Out- 
let back to the federal government for eight million three 
hundred thousand dollars, which was to be paid in five 
annual installments, beginning March 4, 1895. The surplus 
lands of the Pawnees and Tonkawas were also to be opened 
at this time. For thus receding these lands the two tribes 
were given one hundred and ten thousand dollars. As there 

1 The northern portion of Caddo County was long known as County I, 
although it was not opened to settlement until nine years later. 



l86 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

were no allotments in the greater part of the Cherokee 
Strip, this was much the largest opening in the history of 
Oklahoma. To keep " sooners " out, every one was required 
to register before " making the run," but this proved to be 
a farce. Registration officials openly sold certificates, and 
it subsequendy developed that a setder could hold his claim 
just as well without such a paper as with it. The rush came 
September i6, 1893. It was merely a repetition of the 
previous "runs," only magnified in intensity and numbers. 
The boomers came from Kansas on the north and from 
what was then called "Old Oklahoma" on the south. The 
" sooner" and the pistol duel played an even more prominent 
part at this opening than at the previous runs. Land sharks 
("land lawyers " they called themselves) had, through long 
experience, learned the ins and outs of the sort of law prac- 
tice that is carried on in a land office. Contesting claims be- 
came a profession, and endless perjury made it frequently 
impossible for officials to even approximate justice. At this 
opening, as at those previously mentioned, cities sprang into 
existence in a day, and, unlike the mushroom mining camps 
of the West, they are still flourishing municipalities. 

202. Land Lottery. In May, 1895, the Kickapoo country, 
a small district lying between the reservations of the lowas 
and Pottawatomies (see map, p. 137), was thrown open to set- 
tlement. This was the last of the Indian lands to be opened 
with a " run." The stakes were so high and the induce- 
ment to lawlessness so evident, that before other reservations 
were opened to setdement a new and less tumultuous plan of 
distributing the farms was devised. At the Kiowa-Comanche- 
Caddo opening in the summer of 1901 the farms were dis- 
tributed by means of a lottery. Two registration districts were 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 187 

established, — one at Fort Sill, the other at El Reno. Each 
person who wished to draw for a claim had to make oath 
that he was entitled to hold land under the Homestead Law 
of the United States. His name was then placed on a card in 
a plain envelope. On August 6, 1901, the drawing began 
at El Reno. Over one hundred and sixty thousand persons 
had registered, while there were but twenty-six thousand 
claims. The envelopes, after being thoroughly mixed in a 
great drum-shaped wheel, were drawn by a blind boy. The 
person whose name came first had first choice of farms. It 
chanced to be a hardware clerk of Weatherford, James R. 
Wood. The second envelope contained the name of a Wichita 
telephone operator. Miss Mattie Beal. This plan did away 
with the wild scramble that had been the chief feature of 
previous openings, but it aroused the gambling instincts in 
many and was so arranged that many registered for claims 
who would never have thought of taking up a farm by the 
other method. But it was generally counted a success, and 
the government has since conducted numerous openings 
in other states in the same way. 

203. Osage Nation and Greer County. With the open- 
ing of the Kiowa-Comanche-Caddo country Oklahoma Terri- 
tory included all the western portion of the present state, 
for in 1893 the Osage nation was attached to Oklahoma for 
court purposes, and in 1895 Greer County was awarded to 
Oklahoma by a United States Supreme Court decision. It 
was explained in section 26 that Greer County was long 
claimed by Texas, because Marcy in his expedition left the 
main branch of the Red River in 1852 and followed the 
north fork of that stream west to the looth meridian. By 
the treaty with Spain in 1 8 1 9 the Red River was to be the 



1 88 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

boundary between the United States and the Spanish domain 
west to the looth meridian. The question was which branch 
of the stream was Red River. The Texas legislature in 1 860 
named this disputed territory Greer County, after a former 
Texas governor. Stockmen occupied the region in the early 
eighties, and in 1885 settlers began to occupy the valley 
lands. That year the federal government removed some of 
the settlers as intruders, but they immediately returned, and 
in 1888 the population of the county was sufficient for it to 
be organized under the laws of Texas. In the Organic Act 
(sect. 196), establishing a government for Oklahoma Terri- 
tory, it was stipulated that the title to Greer County should 
be tested in the Supreme Court of the United States. This 
case went against Texas in 1895. The next year, by an act 
of Congress, Greer County was reorganized under the laws 
of Oklahoma, and in the fall of that year the citizens of 
the county for the first time participated in an Oklahoma 
election. This county, since statehood, has been subdivided 
so that it now forms three whole counties (Greer, Jackson, 
and Harmon) ^ and about one half of Beckham County. 

204. The Free Homes Bill. David A. Harvey was the 
first delegate to represent Oklahoma at Washington, for 
under the terms of the Organic Act and according to well- 
established custom Oklahoma was allowed a delegate in 
the lower house of Congress. This delegate was given no 
vote, however. Mr. Harvey was elected in November, 1890, 
for the unexpired term of the Fifty-first Congress and for 
the full term of the Fifty-second. In 1892 Dennis T. Flynn 

.1 The Hon. Judson Harmon, present governor of Ohio, Cleveland's 
attorney-general, was the lawyer who defeated Texas' claim to Greer 
County. So in 1909, when Greer County was again divided, the segre- 
gated portion was very appropriately named Harmon. 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 



189 



was chosen to succeed Mr. Harvey. He was reelected in 
1894, but was defeated in 1896 by James Y. Callahan, a 
Populist who received Democratic aid. In 1898 Mr. Flynn 
was again sent to Washington, and it was then that he 
rendered a great service to the citizens of Oklahoma by 
being chiefly instrumental in securing the passage of the 
Free Homes Bill (June 17, 1900). After the first opening 
homesteaders were required to 
pay for their farms at the rate of a 
dollar and a quarter an acre. This 
applied to all the lands open to 
settlement from the Iowa, Sac and 
Fox, and Pottawatomie reserva- 
tions to the Cherokee Outlet. By 
the passage of the Free Homes 
Bill there were given outright to 
the struggling settlers of Okla- 
homa millions of acres that would 
otherwise have had to be paid 
for. Mr. Flynn remained in Con- 
gress until he refused to serve 
longer. He was succeeded by Bird S. McGuire in 1903, 
who held the office up to the coming of statehood. 

205. School Lands. One of the questions most frequently 
discussed during the years that Oklahoma was a territory, 
was the disposal of the school lands. Two sections in every 
township (16 and 36) were given to support the common 
schools of the future state. At later openings two extra sec- 
tions in each township were given, — one (13) for colleges, 
and another (33) for public buildings. Other sections were 
taken, wherever they could be found, to make up for the 




Honorable Dennis T. Flynn, 
Author of the Free Homes Bill 



IQO HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

sections not originally given, and also to replace either i6, 
36, 13, or 33 when one of these had been allotted by an 
Indian. Thus in some portions of the territory there were 
vast tracts of school land that could not be taxed. The 
lessees of these state lands were anxious to obtain title to 
them, and this kept the school-land question almost con- 
stantly before the people. But the national government did 
not permit the sale of the lands until after Oklahoma had 
become a state. The first year after statehood (November, 
1908) there was a referendum on this question, and the 
people voted by a large majority not to sell the lands. But 
the manifest injustice of holding lands in such large lots 
induced the second state legislature to sell all the indemnity 
lands and also all the college sections given the state by the 
Enabling Act.^ This is now being done (March, 19 10) (see 
Appendix A, Abbott's '' Oklahoma Civics"). 

206. Single vs. Double Statehood. Hardly had the settlers 
rushed into Oklahoma at the time of the first opening when 
the agitation for statehood began, for the new territory soon 
had more people than many of the states. Numerous state- 
hood conventions were held. At these the question immedi- 
ately presented itself as to whether there should be one or 
two states carved out of the old Indian Territory. Those 
who advocated single statehood felt that the mines and vast 
.oil interests of the eastern part of what is now the state of 
Oklahoma and the agricultural industries of the western 
half would naturally supplement each other. The advocates 

1 All the land in Oklahoma at the time the territory became a state was 
declared college land. There was in all one million and fifty thousand 
acres in this last gift. It includes immense areas in the Panhandle, and, 
because of this, was ordered sold at the time the indemnity lands were put 
upon the market. 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 191 

of double statehood pointed out that small and sparsely 
settled New England states had two senators apiece, and 
that since each half of Oklahoma already had a larger popu- 
lation than many of these states, simple justice demanded 
that the Southwest should have this added representation. 
But Eastern interest could see no reason for having two 
small states and four senators where one state and two sena- 
tors would suffice ; and while the question of " single vs. 
double statehood " was warmly debated in the two territories, 
the men who controlled Congress never had any idea of 
allowing this region to become other than one state. 

207. Party Expediency opposed Admission. Party expedi- 
ency always plays a large part in most matters considered at 
Washington. Except for two years, soon after the organi- 
zation of the territory, Congress had been controlled by 
Republicans. Since Oklahoma was a part of the South, 
it was assumed that its vote would be Democratic. It was 
maintained by those who favored statehood that the major- 
ity not only did not intend to allow Oklahoma and Indian 
Territory to come into the Union as two states, but it did 
not propose to have it become a state at all. One pretext or 
another was assigned for denying statehood to the people of 
these territories, but the real reason with many who opposed 
admission was a mere party matter. Yet there was another 
and more just reason for withholding complete self-govern- 
ment from this region. Indian land titles had to be estab- 
lished. The Indian governments had to be wound up. This 
would take time, and far-seeing men in Congress felt that it 
could best be done with the Indian country directly under 
the supervision of the federal government. Thus while 
Oklahomans fumed and clamored for statehood, Congress 



192 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

proceeded in a somewhat dilatory way to place the Five 
Nations in condition to accept and profit by statehood when 
it came. It is well to bear in mind that while in 1890 the 
two territories (Twin Territories they were often called) had a 
combined population of 24 1, 1 55, — a population twice as large 
as many of the states, — yet partisanship and statesmanship 
combined to keep Oklahoma out of the Union for almost a 
score of years. When finally admitted, the new state ranked 
fourteenth in population. 

208. The Intruders. In 1890 there were no less than 
179,321 persons living in the Five Nations. Not fifty thou- 
sand of these were Indians. Most of them were intruders, 
who were tolerated and permitted to live in the Indian coun- 
try, but resided there without legal sanction. The Indian 
leaders, who opposed the coming of the railroads, were true 
prophets : just as soon as railroads came into the territory, 
white people came with them. The McAlester coal mines, 
which were discovered in 1 869, yielded one of the best grades 
of coal to be found in the Middle West, and the industry 
flourished. This brought thousands of white miners into the 
Choctaw nation. The Indians were quick to learn that they 
could get more out of their farms by leasing them to white 
tenants than by farming the land themselves. Therefore 
thousands of white farmers came into the Indian country, 
and while it was against the Indian law and contrary to the 
federal treaties, yet the Indians encouraged these intruders. 
It has been explained that the Indian law did not apply to 
white men (Abbott's ''Oklahoma Civics," sects. 53, 55). 
The Indian governments spent little or no money on public 
improvements, and conditions in the Five Nations were in 
a most chaotic state. The United States marshals could 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 193 

enforce negative laws ; that is, they could arrest a man for 
committing a crime, but there was no law for collecting taxes 
or for the building up of the territory. Manifestly so many 
thousands of white men could not continue to live without 
some form of government, and the federal authorities were 
at last compelled to step in and alter conditions as fast as 
possible. 

209. The Dawes Commission. On November i, 1893, a 
committee of three was appointed by President Cleveland 
to induce the Indians of the Five Nations to take their lands 
in severalty and to surrender their tribal governments: This 
committee was headed by ex-Senator Henry L. Dawes of 
Massachusetts, and has been known ever since as the Dawes 
Commission. After much difficulty treaties were obtained 
from each of the Five Civilized Tribes, by which they agreed 
to take their lands in severalty. Because of the total lack of 
a governing authority for the white people of Indian Terri- 
tory, the Dawes Commission acted as a kind of executive 
and legislative head for them as well as for the Indians. 
It assumed general supervision of all matters in the Five 
Nations, although the Indian governments still acted in 
purely tribal affairs. 

210. The Tribal Rolls. To assign a definite plot of ground 
to every man, woman, and child in the Five Nations was no 
small task. First of all, the tribal rolls had to be made up, 
that is, every Indian in the Civilized Tribes had to prove 
his right to share in tribal lands. This headright, as it was 
called, often had to be tested in the federal courts, and years 
were consumed in making up the rolls. The enrollment 
began in 1898, and even yet (19 10) new claimants for land 
appear, and frequent efforts are made to compel the Dawes 



194 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

Commission to reopen the rolls, which have been nominally 
closed since June 30, 1908, 

211. Laws of Arkansas extended over Indian Territory. 

By the terms of the Curtis Act the laws of Arkansas were 
extended over the Indian Territory in 1899. This was the 
first positive law ever enacted for the white population of 
the Indian nations. Under it cities were incorporated and 
municipal taxes collected to support the city governments 
and for school purposes. But in the rural sections, because 
there was no county or township organization, the Arkansas 
law would not apply, and here there was but little improve- 
ment over the primitive conditions of the Indian govern- 
ments. Streams were not bridged, roads were not built, and 
without taxes schools could not be maintained. While rural 
Oklahoma was progressing by leaps and bounds, Indian 
Territory, outside the incorporated cities, was more back- 
ward than New England before the Revolution. 

212. Indian Territory School System. But the Curtis 
Act also established a sort of free-school system for the 
white children of Indian Territory. This was necessary 
because the Indian schools could in no way accommodate 
the large numbers of white children who began to demand 
admission in the early nineties. Congress allowed the Dawes 
Commission funds with which to establish schools for the 
white children of the intruders who had come to dwell in 
Indian Territory. In 1899 John D. Benedict was appointed 
supervisor of education for the Indian Territory, having 
charge of both the white and Indian schools in the Five 
Nations. The Indian schools were maintained exclusively 
for Indians. White or Indian children could attend the rural 
day schools, which were maintained partly by a payment of 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 



195 



tuition and partly from the funds appropriated by Congress. 
Separate schools were provided for colored children. Federal 
aid was not extended to the incorporated towns, for free 
schools could be maintained there by local taxation if the 
citizens so desired. The Indian schools of the Five Nations 
and a few rural day schools were maintained under Mr. Ben- 
edict's supervision until February, 19 10. 

213. The Sequoyah Convention. The only determined ef- 
fort made by Indian Territory to secure statehood, independ- 
ently of Oklahoma Territory, was the so-called " Sequoyah 
constitutional convention." Delegates from the Five Nations 
met at Muskogee in July, 1905. They framed a constitu- 
tion for this portion of Oklahoma, naming the prospective 
commonwealth " Sequoyah," in honor of the famous Cher- 
okee scholar of that name (sect. 89). William H. Murray 
represented the Chickasaw nation in this convention, and 
Charles N. Haskell (sect. 219) was one of the most ener- 
getic delegates. The constitution which this body framed 
and sought to have Congress recognize was given scant con- 
sideration at Washington. Apparently the convention's work 
came to nothing, but in one respect it was a material benefit 
to the political leaders of the eastern part of the future state. 
Heretofore there had been little concerted political action 
among the white men of the Civilized Tribes. This conven- 
tion gave them an opportunity to get together. The next 
year, when the convention met to frame a constitution for 
the united territories, a group of delegates who had worked 
together in the Sequoyah convention easily controlled this 
later and more serious work of constitution building. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

STATEHOOD 

214. Struggle for Statehood. Four important questions 
agitated the people of Oklahoma during the territorial days : 
(i) the Free Homes Bill (sect. 204) ; (2) the disposal of school 
lands (sect. 205) ; (3) single vs. double statehood (sect. 
206) ; (4) whether the territory was ever to be given state- 
hood in any form. The Sequoyah convention (sect. 213) was 
the only determined effort Indian Territory put forth to gain 
statehood, but in Oklahoma, or the western part of the terri- 
tory, statehood conventions were held almost every year. 
Practically every territorial assembly, — political, commercial, 
or religious, — before it adjourned, adopted ringing resolu- 
tions demanding statehood. 

215. The Enabling Act. P^inally, it became almost a national 
scandal to continue longer to refuse self-government to a mil- 
lion and a half of American citizens. President Roosevelt, 
with broad-minded statesmanship, pronounced unequivocally 
for statehood for Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico. In 
1905 the National Press Association met at Guthrie. While 
in the territory the editors were provided with a special train 
and were given an opportunity to see the unprecedented 
progress in all parts of Oklahoma. When they returned 
to their homes in the states, almost to a man they became 
earnest and efficient advocates of statehood for Oklahoma. 
It was these influences that forced through Congress the 
next year an Enabling Act for Oklahoma. 



STATEHOOD 1 97 

216. Omnibus Statehood Bill. Thus, as a result of pres- 
sure from without, Congress came to the aid of Oklahoma's 
friends in that body, and a statehood bill, after sixteen years 
of waiting, was finally forced through both houses. This 
bill was signed by President Roosevelt, June 14, 1906, and 
was called the Omnibus Bill because it united Oklahoma 
and Indian Territory as one state and Arizona and New 
Mexico as another state. But there was so much objection 
from these last-named territories that a provision was added 
by which the people of each territory could first vote upon 
the question as to whether they should be thus joined. Both 
territories did so and promptly rejected the offer of state- 
hood in this form. Oklahoma and Indian Territory had 
no such objection to being united, and the formation of a 
constitution was proceeded with, no vote being taken. The 
Enabling Act provided for a constitutional convention of 
one hundred and twelve members, — fifty-five delegates from 
the territory of Oklahoma, fifty-five from the Indian Terri- 
tory, and two from the Osage nation. In Oklahoma, districts 
were designated by Governor Frantz, Chief Justice Burford, 
and William Grimes, secretary of the territory. Each district 
was entitled to send one delegate to the constitutional con- 
vention. Indian Territory was districted by Tams Bixby, 
commissioner of the Five Civilized Tribes, and two judges 
of the United States district courts in the Indian Territory 
(see Abbott's " Oklahoma Civics," Chap. IV, sects. 59-60, 
for provisions of Enabling Act). 

217. Election of Delegates. The campaign for delegates 
to the constitutional convention was spirited. Men who 
aspired to represent the various districts were tested chiefly 
upon the following questions : (i) How would they vote upon 



198 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



prohibition ? (2) Were they in favor of segregating the ne- 
groes when travehng ? (3) How would they vote when it came 
to regulating public-service corporations, and were they for 
or against other progress legislation, such as the initiative 
and referendum and stringent regulation of public-service 
corporations ? 1 The election (November 6, 1909) gave the 




City Hall, Guthrie 
The Constitutional Convention met here in 1906-1907 

Democrats an overwhelming majority ; ninety-nine districts 
returned Democrats and only twelve Republicans were elected. 
One delegate was classed as Independent. The large Demo- 
cratic majority was due to many reasons. The Republican 
party was charged with the long delay in obtaining statehood, 
and there was no little resentment against its candidates on 
this account. It was believed that such race legislation as was 

1 See Abbott's Oklahoma Civics, chap, vii, for initiative and referendum, 
and chap, xiv for state corporation law. 



STATEHOOD 



199 



desired would be more apt to be written into the constitution 
by Democrats than by Repubhcans. Finally, progressive ideas 
advocated by the radical or Bryan wing of the Democratic 
party are quite generally accepted by both political parties in 
Oklahoma. Thus the Democratic aspirants in many districts 
obtained a large following from the Republicans. Upon the 
question of prohibition and the disposal of the school lands 
the parties divided. The delegates met 
at Guthrie, November 20, 1906, and 
it was soon evident that the progres- 
sive Democrats were in control. 

218. William H.Murray. The con- 
vention elected William H. Murray, of 
Tishomingo, president. Mr. Murray had 
been vice president of the Sequoyah 
constitutional convention (sect. 213), 
and the political friends he won there 
now stood him in good stead. That 
he is a capable presiding officer was 
made evident by his presidency of the 
constitutional convention and his speakership of the first 
house of representatives after the coming of statehood. He 
is not adverse to using the gavel, if necessary, to crush fac- 
tious opposition. He is an intermarried Chickasaw, a lawyer, 
and a farmer, and withal a persuasive speaker. His read- 
ing has been extensive, and possibly most of the progressive 
measures found in the constitution were due to his influence 
and to that of Charles N. Haskell, the Democratic floor 
leader in the convention. 

219. Charles N. Haskell. It was upon the shoulders of 
Charles N. Haskell, since elected the first governor of the 




Honorable William H. 
Murray, President of the 
Constitutional Convention 



200 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



state, that the chief burden of framing the constitution fell. 
Governor Haskell possessed marked ability as an organizer 
and leader. He it was, with Mr. Murray's assistance from 
the chair, who made the large Democratic majority a unit 
and forced through the initiative and referendum, the strin- 
gent regulation of public-service corporations, and the select- 
ing of United States senators by direct primary, — measures 
that have made Oklahoma, since statehood, one of the most 
progressive of all Anglo-Saxon com- 
monwealths. And when it came to 
selecting county seats for the thirty- 
nine counties into which the Indian 
Territory was divided, and to cutting 
up the large counties upon the west 
side, Governor Haskell was easily 
leader. This was a mere question of 
expediency. Town fights and local 
jealousies alone were to be dealt with, 
and here the future governor ad- 
justed matters so satisfactorily, that, 
notwithstanding the fact that each county was free to alter 
the decision of the constitutional convention, yet this has 
been done in but two or three counties (consult Abbott's 
'' Oklahoma Civics," p. 20). His genius for organization 
was a little later made apparent, for so well had he made 
over the map of the state that he himself was nominated 
for governor in an apparently hopeless fight, and the con- 
stitution he was largely instrumental in framing was carried 
-by a large majority, and with its acceptance the Demo- 
cratic candidates were very generally successful throughout 
the state. 




Governor Charles N. 
Haskell 



STATEHOOD 20I 

220. Prohibition. The chief fight in the constitutional 
convention was over the question of prohibition. The En- 
abling Act had required that the sale of liquor be prohibited 
in the Indian Territory for twenty-one years. This was in 
harmony with the national government's well-known policy 
of protecting its Indian wards from the evils of the saloon. 
The pro-liquor element in Oklahoma Territory insisted that 
saloons be licensed in the western half of the state, no matter 
what was required in Indian Territory. The question was 
hotly debated, and in the convention state-wide prohibition 
narrowly escaped defeat. It was finally decided to submit 
the constitution, as drafted by the convention, to the electo- 
rate of the new state for their acceptance or rejection, and to 
submit a separate prohibition clause. Thus the instrument 
could be accepted with or without prohibition. The consti- 
tution carried by a majority of 107,274, while the prohibition 
provision had a majority of 18,103. 

221. The Election. The vote upon the constitution and the 
election of state officers was held September 17, 1906. Town- 
ship, county, and state officials were nominated throughout the 
entire state. Frank Frantz, the territorial governor, was nom- 
inated by the Republicans, and, as explained above, Charles 
N. Haskell was the Democratic nominee. Mr. Haskell made 
his campaign upon his record in the constitutional convention 
and in support of the prohibition amendment. His vote was 
137,641 against 110,296 for Mr. Frantz. The Democratic 
state officials were all successful (for names see Appendix A), 
and Democratic county candidates were very generally selected 
throughout the state. The Democrats had a large majority on 
a joint ballot in the legislature, and this insured the selection 
of men of that political party as United States senators. 



202 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



222. Statehood. A copy of the completed constitution 
was sent to President Roosevelt and by him submitted to 
his attorney-general, Charles J. Bonaparte, to see if it was in 
harmony with the Constitution of the United States and the 
Enabling Act for Oklahoma. The document was declared 
to be in accordance with these, and on Saturday, November 




Temporary State House, Guthrie 

1 6, 1907, Oklahoma was proclaimed the forty-sixth state of 
the American Union. That day Governor Haskell and the 
newly elected state, county, and township officials assumed 
their offices. 

223. First State Legislature. Two weeks after the inau- 
guration of the state government the first state legislature 
met at Guthrie. This body proceeded to put the newly 
adopted constitution in force throughout the commonwealth. 
The measures adopted and the supplementary acts of the 



STATEHOOD 203 

second state legislature, which met in January, 1909, are 
discussed in Abbott's '' Oklahoma Civics," which accompa- 
nies this volume. 

224. United States Senators. Robert L. Owen, a wealthy 
Cherokee, who had had wide experience in tribal matters at 
Washington and in the Indian Territory, was chosen one 
of the senators for the new state. Thomas P. Gore, a young 
man who, although blind, had made a brilliant reputation 





Robert L. Owen Thomas P. Gore 

Oklahoma's first United States senators 

as a state senator and orator, was chosen as his colleague. 
Senator Gore drew the short term and was reelected for the 
full six years' term by the second legislature. Although he 
has been at Washington hardly two years, he has already 
gained national fame as an orator and statesman. 

225. Congressmen. The Enabling Act gave to Oklahoma 
five Congressmen. One of these. Bird S. McGuire (Pawnee), 
had already served as delegate from Oklahoma Territory. 
The other four were Democrats, — Elmer L. P'ulton (Oklahoma 
City), James S. Davenport (Vinita), Charles D. Carter (Ard- 
more), and Scott Ferris (Lawton). The second congressional 



204 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

election returned three of these gentlemen, Messrs. McGuire, 
Carter, and Ferris. Richard T. Morgan (Woodward) and 
Charles S. Creager (Muskogee), both Republicans, were elected 
in the second and third districts respectively. 

226. Harmon County. The Oklahoma constitution allows 
a larger measure of local self-government than probably any 
of the other forty-five similar instruments. By it citizens of 
one county can establish another county when they see fit, 
provided certain requirements of the constitution are complied 
with. In the summer of 1909 Harmon County thus seceded 
from Greer County (see map, p. viii). The constitution also 
permits each county, within certain limitations, to select its 
own county seat, and many vigorous elections between rival 
towns have been held to decide this question. Happily the 
provisions of the constitution are so framed that the bloody 
feuds which have occurred over county-seat fights elsewhere 
have been avoided here (see Abbott's '' Oklahoma Civics," 
sect. 32). 

227. Initiative and Referendum. The constitutional pro- 
vision for direct legislation has already been invoked five 
times. At the first general election five '' state questions " 
were submitted to the electorate. State question No. i had 
to do with the repeal of the agency feature of the prohibition 
law, known as the Billup's Bill. No. 2 was to institute the 
Torrens system of land transfer. No. 3 was an attempt to 
so alter the constitution that the Capitol could be removed 
from Guthrie previous to 191 3, the time stated in the Ena- 
bling Act. No. 4 was termed the '' New Jerusalem." It was 
to further the project of locating the state Capitol and most of 
the state's institutions at a new and perfect city to be estab- 
lished at the geographical center of the state. No. 5, if passed 



STATEHOOD 205 

upon favorably, would permit the sale of the school lands. 
The first four were submitted by the state legislature ; the 
last one was brought before the voters by initiative petition. 
Every one of these measures was defeated except the '' New 
Jerusalem." It was merely the registration of public opinion 
upon a state policy and was declared carried. But the second 
state legislature failed to take any action looking to the estab- 
lishment of such a central governmental city. So many elec- 
tors failed to vote upon the referenda submitted to them, that 
it is difficult to say that the state's first experiment with direct 
legislation was an unqualified success. Yet the initiative and 
referendum is generally regarded as a wholesome restraint 
upon the state legislature. It is also believed that in time it 
will be a powerful stimulus for education, and will interest 
citizens in governmental matters that materially concern 
them. 



APPENDIX A 

FIRST STATE OFFICERS 

Governor, Charles N. Haskell $45°° 

Lieutenant Governor, George W. Bellamy looo 

Secretary of State, William Cross 2500 

Auditor, M. E. Trapp 2500 

Attorney-General, Charles West 4000 

Superintendent of Public Instruction, E. D. Cameron .... 2500 

Treasurer, James A. Menifree 3000 

Examiner and Inspector, Charles A. Taylor 3000 

Commissioner of Labor, Charles L. Dougherty 2000 

Insurance Commissioner, J. T. McComb 2500 

Chief Mine Inspector, Peter Henraty 3000 

Commissioner of Charities, Miss Kate Barnard 1500 

Corporation Commissioners: J. E. Love, J. J. McAlister, A. P. 

Watson 4000 

President of Board of Agriculture (eleven farmers), J. P. Connor 2500 

State Printer, Clint Worral 2500 

State Board of Public Affairs : Roy V. Hoffman, R. J. Allen, 

T. A. Chandler 3000 

Senate (forty-four members). Six dollars per day for sixty days ; 

after that two dollars per day. 
House of Representatives (one hundred and nine members). 

Salary same as that of senators. 
President pro tempore of Senate : First Legislature, Henry S. 

Johnston; Second Legislature, J. C. Graham. 
Speaker of the House of Representatives : First Legislature, 

William H. Murray ; Second Legislature, Ben. F. Wilson 
Supreme Court Judges: R. L. Williams, John B. Turner, M. J. 

Kane, S. W. Hayes, Jesse J. Dunn 4000 

Clerk of Supreme Court, H. L. Campbell (fees) 

Judges of Criminal Court of Appeals : Henry M. Furman, 

Thomas B. Doyle, H. G. Baker 3500 

207 



2o8 HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 

UNITED STATES SENATORS 
Thomas P. Gore, Robert L. Owen. 

REPRESENTATIVES 

Bird S. McGuire, Elmer L. Fulton, James S. Davenport, 

Charles D. Carter, Scott Ferris 1 907-1 909 

Bird S. McGuire, Richard T. Morgan, Charles S. Creager, 
Charles D. Carter, Scott Ferris. The names occur in the 
order of the districts they represent 1 909-1 911 



APPENDIX B 

TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS 

George W. Steele . 1 890-1 891 W.M.Jenkins . . 1901 

A. J. Seay . . . 1891-1893 T. B. Ferguson . . 1901-1905 

W. C. Renfrow . . 1893- 1897 Frank Frantz . . 1905-1907 

C. M. Barnes . . 1897-1901 

DELEGATES IN CONGRESS 

David A. Harvey . 1890-1893 Dennis T. Flynn . 1899-1903 
Dennis T. Flynn . 1893-1897 Bird S. McGuire . 1903-1907 
James Y. Callahan . 1897-1899 . 

CHEROKEE GOVERNORS (PRINCIPAL CHIEFS) 

John Ross (Ko-o-wes-ko-o-we) . . 1839-1866 

William P. Ross 1866-1867 (unexpired term of John 

Ross) 

Lewis Downing 1867-1872 

William P. Ross 1872-1 875 (unexpired term of Lewis 

Downing) 
Charles Thompson (0-o-cha-la-tah) 1875-1879 



APPENDIX 



209 



D. W. Bushyhead 
J. B. Mayes. . 
C. J. Harris . . 
S. H. Mayes . 
T. M. Buffington 
W. C. Rogers . 



1887-1891 

1 89 1 - 1 895 (unexpired term of J. B. Mayes) 

1 895- 1 899 

1899-1903 

1903 (still recognized as Cherokee 

Principal Chief by the federal 

authorities) 



APPENDIX C 

GENERAL CENSUS RETURNS 
Oklahoma Territory 



, 


Indian Colored 


Total 


1890 . . 


• 1 3, '77 • • • 2,973 . 


• . 78,475 


1 900 . 


. 11,945 . . . 18,831 . 


. • 398,331 


1907 . . 


. 13,087 . . . 31,511 . 

Indian Territory 


• . 733,262 


1890 . . 


. 51,279 . . . 18,636 . 


. . 180,182 


1900 . . 


. 52,500 . . . 36,853 . 


. . 392,060 


1907 . . 


. 61,925 . . . 80,649 • 


. . 681,115 



Total population of Oklahoma the day statehood was proclaimed 
(November 16, 1907) was 1,414,377. 



INDEX 



(The references in the Index are to pages) 



Abolition of slavery, ii6, 131-132. 

Adams, President John Quincy, sup- 
ports Cherokees, 39 ; supports 
Creeks, 43. 

Adobe Wall, battle of, 157. 

Advocate, Cherokee-, 81, 163. 

Agency Indians, government of, 71. 

Alabama, Georgia Creeks forced 
into, 38 ; Creeks removed from, 

52- 

Alliance, Farmers'. 180. 

Alva, normal school at, 181. 

Anadarko Indians, 152. 

Annexation of Texas, 170. 

Apache prisoners of war, 84, 151. 

Apaches of the Plains, 144. 

Arapahoes, 142. 

Arbuckle, Fort, 91, 92, 95; moun- 
tains, 93. 

Arbuckle, General Matthew, pro- 
tects Ridge's followers, 51 ; fort 
named for, 92. 

Arkansas, laws of, extended over 
Indian Territory, 194. 

Arkansas Territory, Oklahoma a 
portion of, 35. 

Arkansas, valley explored by Wilkin- 
son and Pike, 13 ; river line, 115. 

Armstrong Academy, peace council 
called, 127. 

Assassination, of Mcintosh, 42 ; of 
Ridges and Boudinot, 49 ; of Semi- 
noles, 58. 

Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe 
Railroad, 167. 

Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, 164. 

Augur, General C. C, 143. 

Ball, Indian, 87. 

Banks. Red River expedition of. de- 
feated, 122. 



Barnes, Governor C. M., 182. 

Beal, Mattie, 187. 

Bean's salt works, 20 ; visited by 
Jacob Fowler, 21. 

Bear Paw Mountain, Nez Perces 
surrender at, 135. 

Beaver Creek (Camp Supply), 
Philip Sheridan's rendezvous, 
145; city, 171; county. 179. 

Belle Point (Fort Smith) founded, 16. 

Benedict, Superintendent John D., 
194. 

Benjamin, Judah P., Confederate 
secretary of war, loi. 

Big Tree, 156. 

Billup's Bill, 204. 

Bird Creek, battle of, 102. 

Black Beaver, 133. 

Black Kettle, chief of a band of 
Cheyennes, 141; at battle of Wash- 
ita, 148; killed, 149; forgotten,! 57. 

Blunt, General James G., takes field, 
115; defeats Cooper, 115; strikes 
Confederates at Perryville, 118; 
burns supplies, 118; occupies 
Fort Smith. 118-119 ; attacked by. 
Quantrill, 119; succeeded by Gen- 
eral Thayer, 123. 

Bogy, Charles, 17. 

Bonaparte, Charles J., 202. 

Boomers, Oklahoma, 168. 

Boone, Captain Nathan, 91. 

Boudinot, Colonel Ezekiel Corne- 
lius, 51, 161, 166. 

Boudinot, Elias, editor Che7vkee 
F/iauix, 47; assassinated, 50. 

Boudinot, William Penn, 163. 

Bradford, Major William, expedition 
to Red River, 18. 

r)uffaloes, 5. 

Burke, C. M., iSo. 



212 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



" Busk," the, 86. 

Butler, Dr., imprisoned by Georgia, 

45- 

Cabell, General William L., ii8. 

Cabeza de Vaca, i. 

Cabin Creek, first battle of, ii6, 
117 ; second battle of, 123. 

Caddo Indians, 152. 

Callahan, James Y., delegate in 
Congress, 189. 

Camp Radziminski, 90. 

Camp Supply, 145. 

Campbell, Major, enters Fort Gib- 
son, 112. 

Canadian River valley, explored by 
Long, 22 ; traversed by Josiah 
Gregg, 22. 

Canadian, origin of name, 22; 
county, 179. 

Captain Dutch (Tarche), 89. 

Carpenter, Charles C, 168. 

Carroll, General William, Indian 
commissioner, 47. 

Carruth, E. H., United States com- 
missioner, 99. 

Carter, Charles D., Congressman, 
203. 

Cass, General Lewis, attempts to 
make treaty with Cherokees, 46; 
makes Creek treaty, 52. 

Catlin, George, visits southwest 
Oklahoma, 25; praises Reverend 
W. C. Requa, 28 ; account of In- 
dian ball games, 87. 

Cattle kings, reign of, 165. 

Chapman, Reverend Mr., first Okla- 
homa missionary, 27. 

Chase, O. G., 171. 

Checota, Samuel, 66. 

Cherokee, nation, early divided, 18, 
33; outlet, 33 ; outlet surveyed, 
34 ; treaty party formed, 47 ; lands 
sold by Georgia, 48 ; government, 
61 ; constitution, 61 ; political or- 
ganization, 63; alphabet, 81; 
national council summoned, 116; 
slavery abolished, 1 16; Strip, tribes 
located on, 135; Strip, receded 
and opened, 185. 



Cherokees, early become civilized, 
30 ; location of, in Oklahoma, 33 ; 
eastern, 34 ; forced removal of, 
44 ; refused to move, 48 ; divided 
in Civil War, 98 ; deserted by 
Confederates, 109 ; declare for 
North, 112; join Union, 116; 
favor Okmulgee constitution, 162. 

Cheyennes, southern, treaty, 142; 
commence to raid again, 157; 
surprised by McKenzie, 157; 
attack train on Chisholm Trail, 
1 57 ; northern, flight of, 1 58. 

Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific, 
168. 

Chickasaw, migration, 55; treaty of 
Pontotoc Creek, 55; district, 56; 
constitution, 71 ; national council 
never accepted ex-slaves as mem- 
bers of tribe, 130. 

Chickasaws, buy lands of Choctaws, 
56 ; object to Choctaw rule, 69 ; 
favor South, 94; treaties of alli- 
ance with the United States dis- 
solved, 95 ; treaty with South, 97 ; 
refuse to move under Pike, 105- 
106; at Poison Springs, 122. 

Chisholm, Jesse, 167. 

Chisholm Trail, 157, 167. 

Chitto Harjo, insurrection of, 66. 

Chivington, Colonel J. M., attacks 
Black Kettle, 141. 

Choctaw, constitution, 68 ; statutes, 
69 ; Chickasaws object to law of, 
69 ; schools, 79 ; nation overrun, 
126; freedmen, 132; railroad, 177. 

Choctaws, forced out of Mississippi, 
53 ; no law for collection of debts, 
69 ; favor South, 94 ; resolutions, 
94 ; treaty with South, 97 ; refuse 
to move under Pike, 105-106; at 
Poison Springs, 122; favor Ok- 
mulgee constitution, 162. 

Chouteau, Auguste Pierre, induces 
Osages to move to Arkansas, 14; 
prisoner in New Mexico, 17 ; took 
possession of Glenn's trading 
house, 17. 

Chus-ta-la-sah (Bird Creek), battle 
of, 102. 



INDEX 



213 



Chus-te-nah-lah (Shoal Creek), bat- 
tle of, 103. 

Cibola, seven cities of, i. 

Cimarron, origin of name, 171. 

Cimarron Territory, 171 ; forgot- 
ten, 172. 

Civil War, end of, 124. 

Civilized tribes, religious progress 
of, 73 ; life of, 83 ; homes, 84 ; 
favor South, 94 ; condition of, 
after war, 1 26 ; lands surrendered 
by, 130; division of land, 130- 
131 ; ex-slaves, 131 ; against terri- 
torial organization, 162. 

Claremore Mound, battle of, 88. 

Clermont (Claremore), Osage chief, 
meets Wilkinson, 14; commands 
Osages, 89. 

Cleveland County, 179. 

Cleveland, President Grover, signs 
Indian Appropriation Bill and 
Oklahoma " rider," 173. 

Cloud, Colonel, 119. 

Coal discovered, 192. 

Colbert, Governor Winchester, 121. 

" Colonies," forced to leave Indian 
country, 168. 

Comanche County, 186. 

Comanches, treaty, 142, 144; Qua- 
hada, 157. 

Confederated tribes, 134. 

Confederates, organize, 96 ; treaty 
with Indians, 96 ; gain north 
Oklahoma, 100; 'attack Union 
Creeks, loi ; desert Cherokees, 
109; deserted by Ross, 112; at- 
tacked by Blunt, 118; sufferings 
of, 120. 

Congressional delegate promised 
Indians, 30, 160; in Confederate 
congress, 114, 160; for Okla- 
homa Territory, 188, 189. 

Congressional delegations since 
statehood, 203. 

Constitution, Cherokee, 61 ; Creek, 
65 ; Seminole, 67 ; Choctaw, 68 ; 
Chickasaw, 71; Sequoyah, 195; 
Oklahoma, 197. 

Cooley, D. N., commissioner of 
Indian affairs, 127. 



Cooper, General Douglas II., in 
command of affairs in Indian 
country, loi ; temporary com- 
mander in Indian country, 112; 
attacks Phillip's outposts at Fort 
Gibson, 116; burns supplies at 
Honey Springs, 118; retreats 
towards Red River, 118. 

Coronado, Francisco Vasquez de, 
discovers Oklahoma, 1-7. 

Couch, Captain William L., Payne's 
lieutenant, 170; Oklahoma City's 
first mayor, 175. 

Council Grove, peace council called, 
124. 

Crawford, Governor Samuel J., 144, 

149- ^ 

Crazy Snake, insurrection of, 66. 

Creager, Charles S., Congressman, 
204. 

Creek, English name for Muskogee 
tribe, 52 ; government, 64 ; consti- 
tution, 65 ; insurrection of Stupid 
Sands, 66. 

Creeks, forced out of Georgia, 38; 
lands seized, 41 ; forced from Ala- 
bama, 52 ; treaty with South, 97 ; 
divided, 99 ; attacked by Confed- 
erates, loi ; refuse to move under 
Pike, 105, 106; retreat west under 
Mcintosh, 118; desert Stand 
Watie, 123. 

Curtis Act, 194. 

Curtis, Charles, 135. 

Curtis, General, Union- commander, 
Pea Ridge, 105, 106. 

Curtis, H. L., son of Union general, 
120. 

Cusseta, treaty of, 52. 

Custer, General George A., account 
of battle of Washita, 146, 149 ; 
recaptures white women, 150. 

Dade, Major, ambushed, 58. 
Dale, John, delegate from Cimar- 
ron, 171. 
Dances, Indian, 85. 
Dancing Rabbit Creek, treaty of, 54. 
Daniels, A. N., 181. 
Darlington agency, 158. 



214 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



Darlington, Brinton, 153. 

Davenport, James S., Congressman, 
203. 

Dawes Commission, 193. See also 
Index, Abbott's " Civics." 

Dawes, Henry L., ex-senator, 193. 

Delawares, promised representation 
in Congress, 30; move to Chero- 
kee country, 133; some settle at 
Wichita agency, 134; location 
in Wichita agency, 152. 

Denver, General James W., no. 

Discovery of Oklahoma, 2. 

Doaksville, 83. 

Dodge, Colonel Henry, 26. 

Dull Knife, 1 58. 

Dwight Mission (old), 27 ; new, 28. 

Edmond, settled, 175; central nor- 
mal school at, 180. 

Education, in Five Nations, 76, 77 ; 
in minor tribes, 80. 

Elliot, Major Joel H., 146, 149. 

Ellsworth, William W., 25. 

Emory, Lieutenant Colonel William 
H., 95- 

Enabling Act, 196. 

Eufaula, council, 172. 

Ex-slaves among Indians after war, 
13I' 132, 133- 

Fast Bear, 155. 

Federal supply train, attacked, 116; 

captured, 123. 
Ferguson, Governor Thompson P., 

182. 
Ferris, Scott, Congressman, 203. 
First permanent settlement in Okla- 
homa, 91. 
Florida, home of Seminoles, 56 ; 

Seminoles left in, 58. 
Flynn, Dennis T., delegate in 

Congress, 189. 
Fort Arbuckle, Wichitas flee to, 91 ; 
established, 92 ; captured, 95. 
Baxter, 1 19-120. 
Blunt, 116, 117. 

Cobb, established, 93 ; aban- 
doned, 95 ; General Sherman 
at, 150. 



Fort Coffee, 92. 

Davis, 113. 

Gibson, first strictly Oklahoma 
fort, 91 ; General Mcintosh 
at, 103 ; retaken by Colonel 
Phillips, 115; General Blunt 
in command, 117; Stand 
Watie attacks outposts, 116. 

King, 58. 

Leavenworth, 96. 

Lyon, 142. 

McCulloch, no. 

Reno, established, 93, 158; 
horse ranch, 93. 

Scott, 92, 116. 

Sill, established, 93, 151; only 
existing fort in Oklahoma at 
present, 93. 

Smith, founded, 16; seized, 
100 ; captured by Unions, 
118; peace council, 127; 
terms offered Indians, 128. 

Supply, established, 93. 

Towson, garrisoned, 92 ; aban- 
doned, 92. 

Washita, first fort on Washita 
in Chickasaw district, 92 ; 
Emory concentrates troops, 

95- 
Wayne, founded, 92 battle of, 

115- 
Forts, abandoned by Unions, 95. 
Frantz, Governor Frank, 182. 
Free Homes Bill, 188. 
Freedmen, 131, 132, 133. 
French, in Canada, 8 ; in Mississippi 

valley, 8 ; found New Orleans, 8 ; 

in Oklahoma, 9. 
Fulton, Elmer L., Congressman, 

203. 
Fur trade, 17. 
Furnas, Colonel Robert W., no. 

Gallatin, Albert, 81. 

Gano, General Richard W., 123. 

Gardenhire, G. W., 181. 

Georgia, forces Creeks out, 38 ; 
seizes Creek lands, 40 ; annexes 
Cherokee lands, 44 ; sells Chero- 
kee lands, 48. 



INDEX 



215 



Glenn, Captain Hugh, fur trader, 

17 ; trading house, 17 ; joins Jacob 

Fowler, 18. 
Gore, Thomas P., senator, 203. 
Governors, territorial, 181. 
Grand River (Neosho, or Six Bulls), 

20; Weer's camp on, 112. 
Grant, President U. S., appoints 

Quaker agents, 152. 
Greer County, 187. 
Gregg, Josiah, took wagon train up 

Canadian, 22; account of Santa 

Fe Trail, 89. 
Greno, Captain, takes Tahlequah, 

112; report to Weer, 1 1 2. 
Grierson, Colonel Benjamin II., 

154- 

Guess, George (Sequoyah), 80; 
head chief of western Cherokees, 
81 ; chief of Old Settlers, 82. 

Guthrie, capital, 180. 

Hamilton, Captain Louis M., 149. 
Hancock, General Winfield Scott, 

143- 
Harkin, George W., Choctaw chief, 

55- 

Harmon County, how named, 188; 
secedes from Greer, 204. 

Harmon, Honorable Judson, t88. 

Harmony Mission, 29. 

Harney, General William S., 143. 

Harrison, President Henjamin, opens 
Oklahoma, 173. 

Harvey, David, delegate in Con- 
gress, 188. 

Haskell, Governor Charles N., at 
vSequoyah convention, 195; Dem- 
ocratic floor leader, 199; gover- 
nor, 200; majority, 201. 

Hayes, President, warns intruders, 
168. 

Hazen, General W. B., 150. 

Hennessey, Patrick, i 58. 

Ilindhian, General William, tto, 
III, 113. 

Holmes, General, no. 

Homes of Indians, 85. 

Homestead Law, 187. 

Honey Springs, battle of, 117. 



Horses, brought to America by 

Spanish, 5. 
Houston, General Samuel, resides 

in Oklahoma, 91. 
Howell, Captain, 115. 
Hubbard, David, superintendent of 

Indian affairs in Indian Territory, 

96. 

Indian, tribes that first inhabited 
state, 29 ; state to be established, 
29 ; induced to take up farming, 
30 ; nations objected to by Georgia 
and other states, 31 ; Springs, 
treaty of, 40 ; migrations, how 
conducted, 53 ; could not live 
under state law, 54 ; governments, 
60 ; Schoolcraft quoted regarding, 
60; homes, 85; dances, 85 ; social 
disposition of,85 ; "busk," 86; ball, 
87 ; early wars, 88 ; favors South, 
94 ; treaty with Confederates, 96; 
sufferings of, during the winter 
1861-1862, 104; refuses to move 
with Confederate army, 105 ; losses 
at Pea Ridge, 109; opposes rail- 
roads, 163; rolls, 193. 

Indian Territory, why established, 
30 ; proposed organization of, 
130, t6o; abandoned to the South, 
95; school system of, 194. 

Initiative and referendum, 204. 

Intruders, 192. 

I-o-nes, 152. 

lowas, 138. 

Irving, Washington, tour of the 
prairies, 24 ; description of a 
squatter, 83. 

Is-par-hec-har (Spiechee), 66. 

Jackson, President Andrew, refused 
to aid Cherokees, 44 ; inconsist- 
ent, 46. 

Jefferson, President Thomas, prom- 
ised to extinguish Indian titles, 
32- 

Jenkins, Governor William M., 182. 

Jesup, General, 58. 

Jones, Horace, interpreter, 154. 

Journeycake, Chief Charles, 75. 



2l6 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



Jumper, Chief John, visits Okla- 
homa, 57 ; commands Seminoles, 
loi ; addressed by Colonel Phil- 
lips, 121. 

Kas-kas-ki-as move to Oklahoma, 134. 

Kaws purchase reservation, 135. 

Ke-e-chi-es, 152. 

Kiamitia, settlement on, 18 ; Fort 
Towson located on banks of, 92. 

Kickapoos, location, 138; Kansas, 
138. 

Kicking Bird, see Reynolds^ Mil- 
ton W. 

Kiowa-Comanche-Caddo country, 
130. 

Kiowas, 26 ; wintered in Oklahoma, 
29 ; made treaty with Comanches 
and Apaches of the Plains, 142, 
143; continue to raid, 153-157- 

Kingfisher, settled, 175; County, 179. 

Kingsbury, Reverend C, Choctaw 
missionary, 74. 

Ko-o-wes-ko-o-we {John Ross), 36. 

La Harpe, 13. 

Latrobe, Charles Joseph, accom- 
panies Irving, 24 ; praises Rev- 
erend W. C. Requa, 28. 

Lawton, General Henry W., 151. 

Leavenworth, General Henry, 25. 

Lee, General Robert E., 124. 

Legislature, first territorial, 180; 
first state, 202. 

Little Arkansas treaties, 142. 

Little Raven, 149. 

Little Rock, 149, 150. 

Logan County, 179. 

Lone Wolf, 1 50. 

Long, Major Stephen H., locates 
Belle Point, 16; explores Cana- 
dian valley, 22. 

Louisiana, French colony, 8 ; ceded 
to Spain, 10 ; receded to France, 
10 ; purchase by United States, 1 1 . 

McAlester coal fields, 164, 192, 
McClellan, Lieutenant George B., 23. 
McCoy, Reverend Isaac, surveys 
Cherokee Outlet, 34. 



McCulloch, Fort, no. 

McCulloch, General Benjamin, in 
command of military district in 
Indian Territory, 96 ; at Pea Ridge, 
105; death, 107. 

McGuire, Bird S., delegate from ter- 
ritory, 189 ; Congressman, 203. 

Mcintosh, Chilly, removes to Okla- 
homa, 43 ; lieutenant colonel of 
Creek regiment, 99. 

Mcintosh, Colonel D. N., colonel 
of Creek regiment, 99 ; refuses to 
march, 109; retreats west, 118. 

Mcintosh, General James, defeats 
Creeks, 103 ; killed, 107. 

Mcintosh, General William, betrays 
Creeks, 38 ; exposed by Ross, 40 ; 
assassinated, 42. 

McKenzie, General R. S., 157. 

Malgares, Don Facundo, captured 
Pike, 15. 

Marcos de Nizza, i. 

Marcy, Captain Randolph B., ex- 
plored Red River, 23 ; mistakes 
North Fork for main channel of 
Red River, 23. 

Marshall, Chief Justice, defied by 
Georgia, 45. 

Marmaduke, J. S., 122. 

Maxey, General Samuel B., 119, 
122, 126. 

Medicine Lodge, treaties of, 143. 

Merritt, General Wesley, ejects Car- 
penter from Oklahoma, 168. 

Miamis, move to Oklahoma, 134. 

Miles, General Nelson A., 158. 

Minor tribes in central Oklahoma, 
136. 

Missionaries, to Osages, 27 ; to Choc- 
taws, 74; to Delawares, 75; aid 
education, ']6. 

Mississippi, expels Choctaws, 53-54 ; 
expels Chickasaws, 55-56; con- 
stitution model for Choctaws, 
69. 

Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Rail- 
road, 164. 

Missouris, location, 136. 

Modocs, 134. 

Morgan, J. Pierpont, 165. 



INDEX 



217 



Morgan, Richard T., Congressman, 
204. 

Morton, Levi P., 165. 

Murray, Speaker William H., at 
Sequoyah convention, 195; chair- 
man constitutional convention, 
199 ; speaker first state legislature, 
199. 

Murrow, Reverend J. S., 161. 

Muskogee, Indian word for Creek, 
52- 

Napoleon, Camp, peace council of, 
124. 

Neosho, Grand, or Six Bulls, River, 
20. 

New Ec-ho-ta, treaty of, 47. 

New Jerusalem, 204. 

Newtonia, battle of, 114. 

Nez Perces, defeat of, 135; reserva- 
tion, 135; transportation to Idaho 
and Washington reservations, 136. 

Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry, 149. 

Nizza, Marcos de, i. 

No Man's Land, 170, 179. 

Normal schools located, 180. See 
also p. no, Abbott's "Oklahoma 
Civics." 

Norman, settled, 175; university at, 
180. 

Nuttall, Thomas, visits Glenn's trad- 
ing post, 17 ; journey to Red River, 
18; visits Neosho saltworks, 20. 

Oklahoma, abstract of title, 12 ; first 
attempt to settle, 18 ; origin of 
name, 160; bill of 1885, 170; 
"rider," 172; first opening, 173; 
"sooners," 175; County, 179. 

Okmulgee constitution, 162. 

Omnibus Bill, for statehood, 197. 

Opening of Oklahoma, first, 173; 
by run, 173 ; by lottery, 186; sub- 
sequent, 182. 

Organic Act, 178. 

Osages, of the Oaks, desert Grand 
Osages, 14; nation of, 187. 

Osceola, 58. 

Otoes, reservation, 136. 

Ottawas, located, 134. 



Otter Creek, Van Dorn's camp on, 

in 1858, 90. 
Owen, Robert L., senator, 203. 

Panhandle, becomes Spanish terri- 
tory, 6; abstract of title, 12. 

Park Hill, Pike at. 106; Greno at, 
112 ; home of John Ross, 112. 

Parker, Colonel E. S., 127. 

Parker, Cynthia Anne, 153. 

Parker, Quannah, 1 53. 

Pawnee Picts (Wichitas), 26. 

Pawnees, remove from central Ne- 
braska, 136; location, 136. 

Payne, Captain David L., 168-169; 
county, 179. 

Payne's Landing, treaty of, 57. 

l^ea Ridge, battle of, 105; Indian 
forces there, 106; Pike's report 
of battle of, 107 ; Pike deserts field, 
108; Indian losses, 109. 

Pegg, Captain Thomas, 113, 116. 

Peorias, 134. 

Perryville, Blunt strikes Confed- 
erates at, 118; supplies burned, 
118. 

Phillips, Colonel William A., retakes 
Fort Gibson, 115; prevents meet- 
. ing of Cherokee legislature, 115; 
at Webber Falls, 116; attacked by 
Cooper, 116; strikes Indians, 120- 
121 ; makes offer to Indians, 121. 

Phccnix^ Cherokee, 47. See Advocate. 

Pi-an-ke-shaws, 134. 

Pike, General Albert, crosses Okla- 
homa, 89 ; appointed commis- 
sioner to treat with Indians, 96 ; 
early life, 96-97 ; secures treaties, 
97 ; agrees to pay annuities, 98 ; 
report of battle of Pea Ridge, 107 ; 
inefficiency of, no; arrest of, 1 1 r . 

Pike, Captain Zebulon Montgomery, 
explores Arkansas valley, 13. 

Pin Indians, in Civil War, 102. 

Pitchlynn, Chief Peter P., takes 
Choctaws to school, 77 ; letter to 
General Maxey, 126; calls peace 
council, T27. 

Plains Indians, refuse to remain on 
reservations, 140; not all bad, 141. 



21 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



Poison Springs, battle of, 122. 

Poncas, 136. 

Pontotoc, treaty of, 55; country, 71. 

Porter, General Pleasant, 66. 

Pottawatomie, "Citizen," 138; 
County, 185. 

Pound, Lieutenant James B., 119. 

Presbyterian, Choctaw churches, 74. 

Price, General Sterling, at Pea 
Ridge, 105, 107 ; Quantrill's re- 
port to, 120. 

Prohibition, 204. 

Pryor, Nathaniel, 17. 

Public buildings, bill, 180. 

Pushmataha, 54. 



Ridge, Major, 47, 50. 

Rio Grande, discovery of, 2 ; Pike 
mistakes it for Red River, 22. 

Ross, Chief John (Cherokee), biog- 
raphy, 36 ; calls convention, 97 ; 
deserts Confederates, T12; fed- 
eral prisoner, 114; arrested by 
Greno, 118; participated in Fort 
Smith treaty, 128. 

Ross, John (Creek), exposed by 
Mcintosh, 40. 

Ross, L. S., governor of Texas, 153. 

Ross, William P., 113, 162. 

Rothwell, convention, 171. 

Round Mountain, battle of, loi. 



Quahada Comanches, 157. 

Quaker agents, 152. 

Quannah Parker, 157. 

Quantrill, in Oklahoma, 119; attacks 

Blunt at Baxter Springs, 119- 

120. 
Quapaws, claimed Oklahoma, 29 ; 

move to Oklahoma, 134. 
Quayle, Lieutenant Colonel loi. 
Quivira, 4. 

Railroad, first to enter Oklahoma, 
163; favors Oklahoma bill, 164; 
Missouri, Kansas, and Texas, 
164; Atlantic and Pacific (Thirty- 
fifth Parallel Road), 164; Santa 
Fe, 167 ; Rock Island, 168 ; Choc- 
taw, 177. 

Red River, attempted exploration 
of, by Sparks,! 5; Nuttall's journey 
to, 18 ; Pike and Long fail to find 
source of, 22 ; explored by Cap- 
tain R. B. Marcy, 23 ; Confeder- 
ates spend winter on, 120. 

Referendum, 204. 

Religious progress of Civilized 
Tribes, 73. 

Renfrow, Governor William C, 
182. 

Requa, Reverend W. C, 28. 

Reynolds, Milton W. (Kicking Bird), 
127, 143, 180. 

"Rider," the Oklahoma, 172. 

Ridge, John. 47, 50. 



Sacs and Foxes, 136. 

St. Denis, 13. 

Salt, Plains, 16; works on Grand 
River, 19; works on Illinois, 20. 

Sand Creek, 141. 

Sanders, Been and, 21. 

Santa Fe, Trail, 89 ; Railroad, 167. 

Satank, 154; arrest of, 155. 

Satanta, 154; arrest of, 155. 

Say, Thomas, explores Arkansas, 
17; visits salt works, 20. 

Schermerhorn, J. T., 47. 

School lands, 189. 

Schools, tribal, 77 ; after war, 79. 

Scott, General Winfield S., re- 
moves Cherokees, 49 ; in Semi- 
nole War, 58. 

Sears, T. C, 168. 

Seay, Governor A. J., i8r. 

Seminole, Creek for " wild," 56 ; 
treaty of Payne's Landing, 57 ; 
War, 58; treaty with South, 97. 

Seminoles, reside in Florida, 56 ; in 
Oklahoma, 58 ; incorporated with 
Creeks, 67 ; desert Stand Watie, 
123. 

Senators, first election of, 203. 

Senecas, 134. 

Sequoyah (George Guess), 80; in- 
vents alphabet, 81 ; head chief 
western Cherokees, 81 ; widow of. 
receives pension, 82 ; chief Old 
Settlers, 82 ; constitutional con- 
vention, 195. 



INDEX 



219 



Shawnees, settle on Cherokee lands. 

133 ; Absentee, 138. 
Sheridan, General Philip H., 143, 

145, 149. 
Sherman, General ^\ illiam T., 127, 

H3' 154. 155- 
Shoal Creek (Chus-te-nah-lah), 

battle of, 103. 
Sibley, George C, visited salt 

plains, 16. 
Six Bulls River (Neosho, Grand), 20. 
Slavery, abolished in Cherokee 

nation, 116; Chickasaw ex-slaves, 

130; in Indian Territory, 131. 

132. See also Ex-slaves. 
Smith, General Kirby, 124. 
Solomon River raid, 144. 
" Sooners," 175. 
Spanish interfere with Americans, 

15- 
Sparks, Major Richard, captured 
while on Red River expedition, 

Spiechee war, 66. 

Springer, William M., Congressman, 
172 ; Bill, 172. 

Stand Watie, General, account of 
assassinations of Ridges, 50 ; op- 
poses Ross, 51 ; at Shoal Creek. 
103; at Pea Ridge. 106; principal 
chief Confederate Cherokees, 
114; at Honey Springs, 117; re- 
treats to Red River, 118; cap- 
tures federal supplies, 123. 

State government, organization of, 
202. 

Statehood, single or double, 190; 
struggle for, 196; bill, 197; 
gained, 202. 

Steamboat/. R. Williams captured, 

1-3- 

Steele. General Frederick (federal), 
1 19. 122. 

Steele, General William (Confed- 
erate), 117, 118, 119; moves 
against Blunt, 118; retreat of, 
18. 

Steele, Governor George W.. 179. 

Stillwater, settled, 175; agricultural 
college at, 180. 



Stokes. Montfort, 26. 
Stupid Sands, insurrection of, 66. 
Supreme Court of Unit-ed States, 
defied by Georgia, 45. 

Tahlequah, 49. 83. 

Talehina, 91. 

Tarche (Captain Dutch), 89. 

Tatum, Lawrie, i 53. 

Taylor, Sarah, marries Jefferson 
Davis, 91. 

Taylor, Zachary, in Seminole war, 
58 ; at Fort Gibson, 91. 

Territorial, delegates, 188 ; govern- 
ment, 178; capital, attempt to re- 
locate, 180; governors, 181-183. 

Terry, General Alfred H., 143. 

Thayer, General John M., 123. 

Thirty-fifth Parallel Road, 164, 

177- 

Thompson, General, assassinated, 
58. 

Tishomingo, capital of Chickasaws, 
70 ; country, 7 i. 

Tonkawa, massacre of, 121. 

Tonkawas, 136. 

To-woc-ca-roes, 152. 

Trails, 167. 

Treaty, of 1778 with Delawares, 30 ; 
of 1828 with Cherokees, 34; of 
Indian Springs, 40 ; of Washing- 
ton with Creeks, 42 ; of New 
Ec-ho-ta, 47 ; of Cusseta, 52 ; of 
Dancing Rabbit Creek, 54 ; of 
Pontotoc, 55; of Fort Moultrie. 
56; of Payne's Landing, 57; of 
Fort Smith, 127; of Washington 
in 1866, 129; of Little Arkansas, 
142; of Medicine Lodge, 143. 

Tribal rolls, 193. 

Troup, Governor George M.. 38. 

Tus-ka-to-kah, convention, 50. 

Twin Territories, 192. 

Unassigned lands, 168. 
Union Mission, 28. 

Vaca, Cabeza de, i. 
Van T^orn, General Earl, attacks 
Comanches, 90 ; Confederate 



220 



HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 



commander at Pea Ridge, 105, 
109; ordered east of Mississippi, 
1 10. 
Vinall, Reverend Mr., 27. 

Wacoes, i 52. 

Walker, Colonel Tandy, 117. 

Wars, early Indian, 88. 

Washington, Creek treaty at, 42 ; 
treaties ratified by Indians in 
1866, 129. 

Washita, battle of, 1 45-1 51. 

Weas, 134. 

Weatherford, normal school at. 181. 

Weaver, James B., assists in open- 
ing territory, 172. 

Webber Falls, Wilkinson mentions, 
14 ; Phillips at, 1 16. 

Weer. Colonel William, 114. 

^\'hite Antelope, 142. 



Wichita agency, 152. 

Wichitas, 152. 

Wilkinson, Lieutenant James B., 

explores Arkansas, 13. 
Williams, Colonel J. M., attacked 

at Cabin Creek, 116; attacked 

by Marmaduke, 122. 
Wood, General J. E., removes 

Cherokees, 49. 
Wood, James R., 187. 
Worcester, S. A., 45. 
Wright, Chief Allen, 161. 
Wyandottes, 134. 
Wyncoop, Major E. W., 145. 

\'o-ho-la (Ho-po-eith-le), leads 
Union Creeks, 99; retreats in 
battle of Round Top, 101-102 ; 
at Bird Creek, 102, 103 ; at Shoal 
Creek. 10^. 



OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 



Copyright, igog 
By L. J. ABBOTT 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



PREFACE 

The great length of the Oklahoma constitution forbids 
quoting and commenting upon it section by section. The aim 
of this book is to give pupils in the schools of Oklahoma a 
complete working knowledge of the institutions of the state 
without burdening them with unnecessary details. It is pub- 
lished in connection with and becomes a part of Boynton's 
School Civics to which frequent reference is made. These 
references should be looked up, as they form a part of the 
text in the same manner as references to the constitution 
of the state. 

References to the constitution are given by article and 
section, e.g. Art. VI, sect. 3 ; to School Civics by pages, 
e.g. Boynton, pp. 293-307 ; and to passages in this book 
by chapter and section, e.g. chap, x, § 151. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. The Civil District : in Oklahoma, the Municipal 

Township 7 

II. City Government 11 

III. The County 19 

IV. How Territories become States — Enabling Act 

FOR Oklahoma 28 

V. Oklahoma Constitution — Bill of Rights ... 36 
VI. Legislative Department, Senate and House of 

Representatives 42 

VII. Legislative Department, Initiative and Referen- 

dum 50 

VIII. Executive Department 55 

IX. Judicial Department 71 

X. Electors and Elections 78 

XI. Taxation and Public Debts 88 

XI I. Public-School System 99 

XIII. State Institutions iio 

XIV. Corporations 117 

Appendix A — United States Land Survey 129 

Appendix B — Oklahoma's Public Lands 133 

Appendix C — The Ribbon Ballot 135 

Index 139 



OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 



CHAPTER I 

THE CIVIL DISTRICT: IN OKLAHOMA, 
THE MUNICIPAL TOWNSHIP 

1. Charters of Liberty. The four great charters of Anglo- 
Saxon Hberty are : Magna Charta (12 15), the Bill of Rights 
(1689), the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the Con- 
stitution of the United States (1789). But the rights which 
these epoch-making documents convey would be materially 
lessened were it not for the great body of common law (the 
law of custom and of usage), founded upon equity and justice, 
and for the boon of local self-government. 

2. Local Government Important. While it is extremely 
important that we have good laws wisely administered in state 
and nation, the individual is deeply concerned with the laws 
and with their administration in the city, township, and county 
in which he resides (Boynton, p. 285). It is the laws of these 
lesser political divisions of government which regulate the 
daily life, and with which the citizen comes into daily contact. 
We will now consider in the smallest governmental division 
the function of the state in its relation to these local rights 
of self-government. 

3. The Civil District was established in some form in every 
one of the colonies at an early date (Boynton, chap, xix, pp. 
288-291). Its form and method of organization was brought 

7 



8 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

to America from England. It is the smallest and least complex 
of all our political machinery. In New England it is called a 
town, — a small country district, — which we in Oklahoma 
term a municipal township (Boynton, chap, iii, pp. 45-52, for 
full discussion of town, parish, county in America). 

4. The Municipal Township in Oklahoma is exactly the 
same civic organization as the town in New England. There 
is this difference, however, that in Oklahoma the administra- 
tion of the municipal township is clearly republican instead of 
a pure democracy, as in the case of a New England town, and 
its governmental functions are more limited. In Oklahoma 
the name ''township " or ''municipal township " is quite as con- 
fusing as the New England name " town." This arises in part 
from the fact that the federal government has given the name 
"congressional township" to a tract of country just six miles 
square, a convenient unit for surveying the state. A municipal 
township may be larger or smaller than a congressional town- 
ship, and has nothing to do with the latter, although in dividing 
a county into municipal townships the lines established by the 
government are frequently used, in which cases the area of 
the two kinds of townships coincide. 

5. Township Officers. As has been stated, the township 
is the least complex of all our political machinery. In the 
sparsely settled country districts and in the small villages 
which are brought under this system there is little need of 
complex government. The chief authority in the township is 
the township board. This board is the legislative assembly of 
the township. It consists of three members : (i) the trustee, 
or chairman, who is the executive official of the township ; 
(2) the treasurer, who has control of the funds ; and (3) the 
clerk, who keeps the records of the board. These men seldom 



THE CIVIL DISTRICT 



River 



--liVot 




{:!HICKASHA 



COMMISSIONER 
DISTRICT NOl 2 



Chickasha 



meet more than four times 
during the year, and then 
only for a few hours. 

6. Duties of Officers. The 
trustee has general control 
of the affairs of the town- 
ship when the board is not 
in session, has gen- 
eral supervision of 
the road overseers, 
and also is assessor 
of the township. 
The treasurer has 
charge of the funds 
of the township. 
The clerk keeps 
the records. 

7. Township 
divided into Road 
Districts. Every 
township is divided 
into road districts, 
each under the su- 
pervision of the 
road overseer. The 
road overseer has 
power to warn (call) 
out citizens to work 
on the roads in 
order that the roads may be kept in as good repair as possible. 
It is also his duty to collect the poll tax and to keep the roads 



P Cm 
'A H 
< 

w 

o 



^i^^ 



cO' 



r#- 



RUSH S JRINGS TP. 






Bradley 



Map of Grady County 

(Showing congressional and municipal townships 
and commissioner districts) 



lO OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

and bridges of his district in good condition. The township 
trustee may act at any time in place of the road overseer. 

8. Initiative and Referendum. The legislative and exec- 
utive departments of township government are combined and 
placed in the hands of one set of ofificials, the township board. 
The legislative acts of the board, however, are subject to 
review by the voters of the township by means of the refer- 
endum. Whenever the board fails, or refuses, to enact desired 
legislation it can be forced to do so by initiative petition (Art. 
V, sect. 5). In Chapter VII a detailed explanation of the 
initiative and referendum may be found. It is a part of the 
legislative machinery of the township, supplementary to 
the work of the township board. 

9. Township Judiciary. There are two justices of the 
peace in every township, as well as in each city of the first 
class (Boynton, p. 279). Under the constitution each justice 
has jurisdiction in civil cases up to $200, and in criminal 
cases where the fine does not exceed ^200, or imprisonment 
in the county jail for not exceeding thirty days, or both such 
fine and imprisonment (Art. VII, sect. 18). This jurisdiction 
is coextensive with the county. The justice also has power to 
examine and commit prisoners in all cases of felony. Every 
justice of the peace has a constable to enforce his decisions, 
to serve writs, and to act as general peace officer of the town- 
ship. In a justice court six men constitute a jury. In July, 
1 9 10, the county commissioners will divide each county 
into six justice of the peace districts. One justice will be 
elected for each district. If necessary, however, additional 
justices may be pro.vided but must not exceed one for each 
voting precinct in the county. 



CHAPTER II 
CITY GOVERNMENT 

10. Municipalities. Where the population becomes dense, 
as in villages and cities, it has been found necessary for the 
best interests of all concerned to have a more detailed organ- 
ization than is necessary in the municipal townships. In large 
cities government is found in its most complex form. The 
various state governments classify such densely populated 
communities differently, according to the numbers living in 
such communities. The smallest division is usually called a 
village, the next larger a town, and the largest a city. Cities 
are again classified, usually into three groups, namely, first, 
second, and third, the third-class city being the smallest 
(Boynton, chap, xx, pp. 293-307). 

11. Oklahoma Municipalities. In Oklahoma all densely 
populated communities are called either cities or towns. There 
are no villages recognized by law in Oklahoma. Municipal- 
ities are of two classes : those of two thousand population are 
called cities of the first class ; those of less than two thousand 
population are called towns. For the incorporation of towns 
no special population is required. When certain provisions 
have been complied with by a densely populated community of 
less than two thousand inhabitants, it is declared a town by 
the board of county commissioners. When a densely popu- 
lated community of more than two thousand inhabitants has 
met the requirements of the general law, it is declared a city 
by the governor of the state. Any city containing a population 



12 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

of more than two thousand inhabitants may frame a charter 
for its own government, consistent with and subject to the 
constitution and laws of the state (Art. XVIII, sect. 3). It 
is then termed a '' charter city." 

12. How a City forms its Own Charter. A convention 
of freeholders (men who own real estate) is elected to draw 
up a constitution or charter for the city. This body is com- 
posed of two men from each ward. This charter is submitted 
to the voters of the city. If a majority of those who vote upon 
the question of accepting or rejecting the charter drawn up 
by the convention are in favor of its adoption, it is then 
sent to the governor for his approval. If it is found to con- 
form with the statutes and constitution of the state, and the 
governor approves, it then becomes the constitution of the 
city, defining what may and may not be done. If the charter 
is approved, one copy is filed with the secretary of state and 
one is recorded with the register of deeds of the county in 
which the city is located, and is then finally deposited in the 
archives of the city. 

13. City Charters : Amendments. Amendments to a city 
charter may be begun as follows : first, by the city council ; 
second, by a petition signed by twenty-five per cent of the 
voters. If the second method is adopted, an election must 
be called by the mayor within thirty days after the petition 
has been filed with him. At this election the voters decide 
whether or not a revision of the charter shall be made. If a 
majority vote in favor of such a revision, the work proceeds ; 
if not, the matter is dropped. This provision and the one in 
the preceding section was put into the constitution so that 
Oklahoma cities could adopt the commission system of city 
government, if they so desired. Commission government 



CIXY GOVERNMENT 1 3 

abolishes all wards and councilmen. A commission, or com- 
mittee, usually of five men, is elected to serve the city much 
as a board of directors controls a large corporation. The 
members of this commission are paid large salaries and de- 
vote all their time to the city's interests. Government by 
commission is an effort to abolish the inefficient and often 
corrupt city governments that are found everywhere in 
America. Two Oklahoma cities, Tulsa and Ardmore, have 
already (1909) adopted charters and are operating under 
some form of the commission system. All other Oklahoma 
municipalities still adhere to the general law, which is ex- 
plained in the following paragraphs. 

14. City Wards and Councilmen. When the governor issues 
a proclamation declaring a certain community a city, he defines 
the wards (subdivisions of the city), not less than four, for the 
purpose of the first election. These wards may be changed 
after the first election, by the city councilmen, if occasion 
requires. The number of people residing in each ward is the 
same as nearly as possible. The wards serve as election 
precincts and are the basis of representation in the city 
council and school board. Each ward is entitled to two coun- 
cilmen, elected for a term of two years alternately. By this 
method at least one half of the council has had experience 
in the administration of city affairs. 

15. The City Council. All legislative authority of the city 
is vested in the city council, with the exception of what law- 
making power is reser\'ed to the mayor and the people. The 
mayor presides over all meetings of the city council and has 
a vote in the case of a tie, and also exercises veto power over 
all acts of the city council. The city council has power to le^y 
taxes, audit and pay bills against the city, borrow money on 



14 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

the city's credit, impose license taxes, erect necessary public 
buildings for the city's use, condemn land for public purposes, 
and invest in public business for the benefit of the city. Water- 
works, lighting plants, cemeteries, represent such investments. 

16. The Initiative and Referendum. Like the municipal 
township, the city has the power of initiative and referendum 
(Art. XVIII, sect. 4 a). Through this power the voters of the 
city may reject the action of their city council or may force 
that body to pass needed legislation. The constitution requires, 
however, that every petition for initiative or referendum in 
the government of the city shall be signed by a number of 
the qualified voters residing within the city, equal to twenty- 
five per cent of the total' number of votes cast at the next 
preceding election, and that this petition shall be filed with the 
mayor (Art. XXIII, sect. b). Thus the legislative authority 
of the city is vested, first, in the city council ; second, in the 
mayor, by reason of his vote in the case of a tie and his power 
of veto ; third, in the people, by means of the initiative and 
referendum. 

17. The Mayor. The chief executive of a city of the first 
class is called the mayor (Boynton, pp. 296-297). It is his 
duty to see that the laws enacted for the government of the 
city are enforced. He presides at all meetings of the city 
council and exercises the right of veto over measures enacted 
by the council. After an ordinance has thus been vetoed it 
can only become a law by passing it over the veto by a two- 
thirds vote of the council. With the consent of the council, 
the mayor can grant reprieves and pardons for offenses arising 
under city ordinances. He can also suspend city officials for 
incompetency or neglect of duty until the council acts thereon. 
The mayor appoints the park commissioner, the water and 



CITY GOVERNMENT 1 5 

sewer commissioner, the light commissioner, the city physi- 
cian, the poHce officers (excepting the chief of pohce), and 
such other officials as the needs of the city demand. His 
salary is fixed by city ordinance, is generally small, and is 
not considered as an adequate compensation for services 
rendered. In many cities throughout the country no com- 
pensation whatever is attached to the office of mayor or 
member of the common council. Service thus rendered is 
usually considered a matter of local patriotism. 

18. The City Clerk. It is the duty of the city clerk to 
keep a record of all proceedings of the council. He signs all 
orders to pay out city funds. Thus he transacts for the city 
the duties that, in the state, are divided betw^een the sec- 
retary of state and auditor. The term of the city clerk is 
two years. The salary varies widely, depending upon the 
size of the municipality. 

19. The City Treasurer. All funds belonging to the city 
are under the control of the treasurer. Like the township 
treasurer, he does not collect the general tax. The general 
taxes are paid to the county treasurer. The only tax money 
that is paid directly to the city treasurer is for the occupation 
tax levied upon certain classes of business in the city, the 
dog tax, the peddler's tax, the street hawker's tax, etc. Such 
special taxes are created by ordinance and are specially devised 
to protect the people against imposition. Term two years. 
The salary depends upon the size of the city. 

20. The City Attorney. The city attorney is elected by 
the people for a term of two years. The attorney is expected 
to advise all city officials upon legal matters that relate to the 
city. He defends all lawsuits against the city, brings action in 
the name of the city, and prosecutes all offenders tried in the 
police court. 



1 6 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

21. The City MarshaL The official title of the chief of 
police is city marshal. He is elected by the people for a 
term of two years and has general control of the peace of the 
city. He is subject to the orders of the mayor only. In most 
cities in other states the mayor appoints the chief of police. 
This custom is more apt to obtain harmony between the chief 
of police and the mayor, and harmony makes for the best mu- 
nicipal government, a condition not always true in Oklahoma. 

22. The Assessor. Every city of the first class chooses an 
assessor, who lists the property of the citizens for taxation 
as does the trustee in a municipal township. The assessor is 
the only official in cities of the first class elected for but one 
year. Salary three dollars per day for the time he is at work. 

23. The Street Commissioner. The street commissioner 
has charge of the streets and sidewalks of the city. He attends 
to all grading, draining, ditching, builds cross walks, and has 
general supervision of all thoroughfares within the city limits. 
Term two years. 

24. The Judicial Authority. The police judge, who is 
elected for a term of two years, is vested with the judicial 
authority in the city. Before him are arraigned the petty of- 
fenders against the peace and dignity of the municipality. The 
police judge determines the meaning of the city ordinances, 
and cases brought before him are never tried by jury. In 
cities of more than twenty-five hundred inhabitants two jus- 
tices of the peace are elected. These justices have been held 
by the supreme court to be county officials, and are elected 
at the regular county election in November instead of at the 
city election in April. The reason for this is that all justices 
of the peace, from whatever district, have jurisdiction in all 
cases not exceeding two hundred dollars arising in the county. 



CITY GOVERNMENT 1 7 

A constable is elected for each justice chosen. Like incorpo- 
rated towns, cities of the first class of less than twenty-five 
hundred population elect but one justice ; cities of over twenty- 
five hundred population elect one extra justice for every ten 
thousand population in excess of the twenty-five thousand. 

25. Incorporated Towns. The general statute provides for 
incorporating towns in Oklahoma. Before a town can be 
incorporated it must be surveyed, mapped, and the census 
taken. The petition for incorporation is made to the county 
commissioners (see chap, iii, § 46), and must be signed by 
one third of the qualified voters residing in the town. If a 
majority of the citizens vote for incorporation, the board of 
county commissioners will issue an order declaring it a town. 
No special population is required, but it must be sufficient to 
support such a government as is provided by the law. 

26. Oklahoma Town Government. The town is divided 
into not less than three and not more than seven districts or 
wards. Each district elects one trustee. The trustees form 
the town's legislative assembly, which is known as the board of 
trustees. The board chooses one of its own number for pres- 
ident, and he thus becomes the chief executive officer of the 
town. At the tim'e of his election, the first Tuesday in April, 
there is also elected a clerk, assessor, treasurer, marshal, and 
justice of the peace, whose term of ofifice is one year each. 
Their duties are the same as those of like officials in other 
departments of government. In towns the same person may 
be both clerk and assessor at the same time. The right of 
initiative and referendum is reserved to the town. 

27. Public-Service Corporations. One of the greatest difB- 
culties arising under city governments is the control of pub- 
lic-service corporations. The constitution of the state gives 



1 8 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

the city explicit control over her franchises, which control, if 
properly exercised, will go a long way in the solution of this 
most vexatious problem in municipal administration. The 
constitution forbids that any city or town shall ever grant, ex- 
tend, or renew a franchise without the approval of a majority 
of the qualified voters concerned, who shall vote upon the 
question at a general or special election ; and no franchise 
shall be granted, extended, or renewed for a longer term 
than twenty-five years (Art. XVIII, sect. 5 a). 

28. Public Utilities. It is becoming more and more the 
custom for cities to conduct certain lines of business that 
are, in the nature of things, monopolies. This is done for 
the benefit of the entire community. Public utilities most 
commonly under the control of the city are waterworks, 
lighting plants, sewers, drains, street railways. The state con- 
stitution makes it possible for cities to enter a much wider 
field. Every municipal corporation within the state has the 
right to engage in any business or enterprise which may be 
engaged in by a person, firm, or private corporation (Art. 
XVIII, sect. 6 a). 



CHAPTER III 

THE COUNTY 

29. The County (Boynton, pp. 48-52). Like the munici- 
pal township, the county is a civil district. By this is meant 
that it is a governmental convenience. In most states its 
boundaries can be changed, or its very existence terminated, 
at the will of the legislature. The constitution of this state 
sets limitations (Art. XVII, sect. 4). It will be seen that the 
governments in the forty-six commonwealths composing the 
Union make them unitary states (Boynton, p. 27), and that 
the federal government has no such powers over the bounda- 
ries of the respective units (states) of which it is composed. 
The states are indestructible just as the Union is indisso- 
luble, i.e. it cannot be legally destroyed (U. S. Supreme Court 
definition of the nature of the Union). 

30. The County in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma the town- 
ship has in no respect the powers of a New England town 
acting through its town meeting (Boynton, p. 47). Also the 
county commissioners lack in many material respects the 
authority lodged in the county court of Virginia's colonial 
days (Boynton, p. 50). Local self-government is here a 
happy blending of the two systems (Boynton, p. 52). 

31. The Counties : how Organized. There are seventy- 
five counties ^ in Oklahoma, created by the constitutional 

1 Most of the legal steps have been taken to create a new county in the 
extreme southwest corner of the state. It will be named Harmon after the 
governor of Ohio. 

19 



20 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

convention. At the time of this convention Oklahoma had 
organized territorial forms of government. Its counties were, 
for the most part, left as they had been under the territorial 
administration ; but in some instances county boundaries 
were changed, large counties cut up, and, in the instance of 
Day County, entirely obliterated. On the Indian Territory 
side of the state there was no local self-government except 
that which related to citizens of the Five Civilized Tribes, 
so counties had to be created throughout this section. 

32. The County Seat. The place where the county govern- 
ment is administrated is called the county seat. Here, at a 
building termed the courthouse, the county business is trans- 
acted, and here the district and county courts hold their ses- 
sions. The county seat is located by the constitution just 
as the county boundaries, but it can be changed in the fol- 
lowing manner : twenty-five per cent of the electors of the 
county must petition for a change, whereupon the governor 
must issue a proclamation calling an election. If a majority 
of the votes cast shall be in favor of any town, such town 
shall thereafter be the county seat, unless the present 
county seat is within six miles of the geographical center of 
the county, in which case sixty per cent of the total votes 
cast is required to effect a change. If, however, the competing 
town is one mile nearer the center of the county than the 
present county seat, then the six-mile provision does not 
hold and a majority vote is sufficient to change to the com- 
peting city. The election officers to conduct a county-seat 
election must all come from another county. They are ap- 
pointed by the governor to take charge of every polling 
place and to count the votes. These provisions for holding 
a county-seat election have been most satisfactory. Oklahoma 



THE COUNTY 21 

has avoided the countless bitter, and often bloody, county- 
seat wars that have stained the early history of other western 
states. The election is conducted by disinterested citizens, 
and no opportunity is given for ballot-box stuffing and frauds 
of a similar nature. 

33. County Government. Oklahoma's constitution and stat- 
utes have created a threefold division of county government : 
executive, sheriff ; legislative, county commissioners ; judicial, 
county judge. 

34. Sheriff. The sheriff is almost the only pure executive 
official known to the American polity, that is, he has no veto 
nor judicial authority. The sheriff's duties are to preserve 
the peace within the county, to attend court, and to serve 
processes. He arrests criminals and has charge of juries, 
witnesses, and prisoners ; he executes the sentence of the 
courts, and also serves writs not only for the district court 
but also for the county court and justices of the peace. He 
is the governor's executive assistant in the county. The 
sheriff is elected for a term of two years, paid by fees. 

35. County Attorney. Like any large corporation, the 
county employs a regular attorney to act for it in all law- 
suits. He represents the people, i.e. the state, in all criminal 
prosecutions and is therefore often called the state's attorney. 
The county attorney is the legal adviser of all county officials, 
and, in fact, of every township and city officer in the county 
in respect to county business. He is elected for a term of 
two years. 

36. The County Clerk. In some states the county clerk is 
called the recorder, and in others the auditor. He is secretary 
of the board of county commissioners and has charge of all 
county papers. All warrants, i.e. orders upon the treasurer, 



2 2 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

are issued by him. He is the bookkeeper for the county. 
He also makes up the tax roll fifter the assessors turn in 
their lists of taxable property to him. A copy of this tax 
roll is turned over to the county treasurer, to be followed in 
collecting each individual's taxes. He is elected for a term 
of two years, at a salary ranging from five hundred dollars to 
sixteen hundred dollars, depending upon the population of 
the county. He is also allowed three hundred dollars addi- 
tional for making out the tax roll (chap, xi, § 175). 

37. The County Treasurer receives and pays out all funds 
with which the county government has to do. He collects 
all taxes for township, school, city, and state purposes. He 
pays out no money except upon a properly signed voucher, 
properly indorsed by the payee, and this paper is his receipt 
and proof of payment. The county treasurer is the only 
treasurer in the state who collects funds, excepting certain 
special taxes. He pays over the pro rata share of all 
money to the township, school, city, and state treasurer for 
disbursement. 

38. Register of Deeds. The transfer of real estate is 
counted such an important matter, and disputed titles to the 
land causes so much confusion, that the state provides for a 
man in each county to register the title of real estate. 
When a person buys real property he is given a deed. In 
order to prevent, as nearly as possible, all fraud in land titles, 
this deed is copied by the register of deeds in a public record 
book. In this way any one can learn exactly who owns the 
property. One should be careful to register a deed as soon 
as the land is purchased. If he does not, the grantor, if dis- 
honest, might sell the same property again. If the second 
person who gets the land is an innocent purchaser, he will 



THE COUNTY 23 

hold title to the property, provided his deed is registered 
prior to that of the original purchaser, who then must look 
to the seller for satisfaction. The register of deeds also keeps 
a record of mortgages, leases, and other matters of general 
interest to the public. The boundaries of oil and mineral 
claims are here recorded. In fact, this officer keeps a record, 
when requested and a small fee is paid, of everything that 
pertains in any way to real estate titles or chattel mortgages. 
He also records the charter of a charter city, after it is ap- 
proved by the governor (chap, ii, § 12). 

39. The Surveyor. The duties of the county surveyor re- 
quire that he survey all public improvements, such as roads, 
lands, and public buildings. He is not paid a salary ; his 
compensation depends upon the amount of work required of 
him. Election to this office generally gives the surveyor a 
standing in the community that brings him much private 
business. He settles disputes about boundary lines, plats, 
town sites, surveys for irrigation ditches, and seeks general 
employment during the periods when not employed by the 
county. 

40. Superintendent of Public Instruction. A school-teacher 
is generally chosen to the office of county superintendent of 
public instruction. This is the only county or township office 
that can be held by a woman. The county superintendent 
has general supervision over all the school-teachers in incor- 
porated towns and in rural districts. He certificates teachers 
who do not hold state certificates, apportions the school fund 
to the respective districts, decides on the boundary lines of 
new districts, and in general promotes the welfare of the school 
system of the county. He is required by law to visit every 
teacher under his supervision once a year during school hours. 



24 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

41. The Coroner. The Oklahoma constitution does not pro- 
vide for the office of coroner ; a justice of the peace acts in his 
stead. Most Enghsh-speaking communities elect a coroner to 
take charge of the dead body of a human being found under 
circumstances which warrant the suspicion that the deceased 
came to his death by violence. He summons a jury and inves- 
tigates the cause of the death. The facts thus elicited, if any 
evidence of foul play is found, are turned over to an officer. 
There was once a time in England when the only county offi- 
cers were the sheriff and the coroner. The coroner then acted 
in the sheriff's place when the latter was absent or incapaci- 
tated. This practice holds to-day. In many states the coroner 
is the only man who can arrest or serve a writ on the sheriff. 

42. The County Weigher. Previous to the adoption of 
the constitution there was an official known as county 
weigher in the Oklahoma portion of the new state. The 
first state legislature reestablished the office. The county 
weigher receives no salary, but his weights on cotton and 
grain are counted official, and the fees resulting from his 
office are considerable. This office is found in many west- 
ern and southern states. It is created in order to save the 
farmer from false weights and collusion of grain factors. 
He is elected for a term of two years. 

43. The County Board of Health. In each county there 
is a county board of health, whose duty it is to look after the 
general health of the community, abolish nuisances that are 
dangerous to the public health, quarantine persons afflicted 
with contagious diseases, and, in fact, to attend to all things 
necessary for the preservation of the public health. The 
members of the board are appointed by the county com- 
missioners for a term of two years. 



THE COUNTY 25 

44. The Commission on Insanity. The county judge, a 
physician, and a lawyer constitute the commission on insanity. 
Persons thought to be insane are brought before this com- 
mission. If so adjudged, they are sent to the Hospital for 
the Insane at Fort Supply or to the sanitarium at Norman. 
As soon as the East Side Insane Asylum is completed at 
Vinita, the state will no longer send insane patients to the 
Norman Sanitarium. If the commissioners are convinced 
that relatives will take proper care of the insane patient, 
this is permitted, and the patient then does not become a 
charge on the state. These two commissioners, who are 
appointed to serve with the county judge, are chosen for a 
term of two years (chap, xiii, § 228). 

45. The County Physician. The county physician is elected 
by the board of county commissioners. He attends the sick 
at the poorhouse, and prescribes for the indigent sick else- 
where in the county, when instructed to do so by the county 
commissioners. He is appointed for a term of two years. 
His salary depends upon the service rendered. 

46. County Commissioners. The legislature of each county 
consists of three commissioners. In other states this body is 
frequently more numerous and is known under the name of 
supervisors or county court. But whatever the name may be, 
the functions vary but little. The commissioners of the county 
have general supervision of all roads and bridges, build- 
ings, and other county property. They also have the care 
of the poor. The commissioners determine the tax levy for 
their respective counties, and all bills must be allowed by 
them before being audited by the county clerk or paid by 
the treasurer. The county commissioners also compose the 
county board of equalization (chap, xi, § 174). They are 



26 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

elected for a term of two years. Their salary depends upon 
the population of the county. It ranges from one hundred 
and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars per year. There is 
some other slight compensation in the way of mileage, etc. 

47. Initiative and Referendum. Measures passed by the 
county commissioners, like all other legislation in the state, 
are subject to direct review by the people of the county (see 
chap. viii). The manner of exercising the initiative and 
referendum according to the constitution '' shall be prescribed 
by the general laws, except that boards of county commis- 
sioners may provide for the time for exercising this power 
as regards local legislation in their respective counties and 
districts (Art. V, sect. 5). 

48. The County Judge. The court over which the county 
judge presides has original jurisdiction concurrent ''with the 
district court in civil cases in amount not exceeding one 
thousand dollars " (Art. VII, sect. 12). It is a court of record 
and has exclusive jurisdiction in all civil cases in which more 
than two hundred and less than five hundred dollars is in- 
volved. It also has the general jurisdiction of the probate 
court. It probates wills, appoints guardians of minors, idiots, 
lunatics, persons non compos mentis, and comnlon drunkards ; 
grants letters testamentary and of administration, and trans- 
acts all business appertaining to the estates of deceased 
persons, minors, idiots, etc. The county judge also conducts 
the juvenile court. On certain days only youthful offenders 
are tried. Thus children are not contaminated by association 
with hardened criminals. In civil cases six electors compose 
a jury, and three fourths can render a verdict. In criminal 
cases the county judge's authority is about the same as that 
of a justice of the peace. He can act as examining and 



THE COUNTY 27 

committing magistrate in all criminal cases (Art. VII, sect. 
17) (see chap, i, § 9). 

49. County Superior Court. In each county of thirty thou- 
sand population, in which there is a city of eight thousand, 
a superior judge is elected. This judge has concurrent juris- 
diction with the district and county courts, except he has no 
probate powers. His term is four years, and his salary is the 
same as that of the county judge in the county where he pre- 
sides. At present (1909) but five counties have such courts — 
Oklahoma, Logan, Pottawatomie, Pittsburg, and Muskogee. 

50. Eleemosynary Institutions. The several counties of 
the state shall provide, as may be prescribed by law, for 
those inhabitants who, by reason of age, infirmity, or misfor- 
tune, may have claims upon the sympathy and aid of the 
county (Art. XVII, sect. 3). Most counties have a poor- 
house, or some other way to provide for the indigent within 
their borders. In densely populated counties these eleemosy- 
nary institutions are much more numerous, and the charity 
work is much more highly organized than in Oklahoma, 
where as yet there is little need of it. 



CHAPTER IV 

HOW TERRITORIES BECOME STATES — ENABLING 
ACT FOR OKLAHOMA 

51. New States. The federal Constitution provides (Art. 
IV, sect. 3) that "new states may be admitted by the Con- 
gress into the Union " ; and the next sentence of the same 
section states that '' The Congress shall have power to dis- 
pose of and make all needful rules and regulations respect- 
ing the territory or other property of the United States " 
(Boynton, p. 143). It was under this latter clause that Okla- 
homa was created a territory in 1890 by the passage of an 
organic act, i.e. an act organizing the territory (Boynton, 
p. 144). The portion of the state opened for settlement the 
previous year (1889) was a few counties west of the Creek 
and Seminole nations and north of the Chickasaws, to which 
the Panhandle was attached. Tract after tract was added to 
this nucleus until all the western half of the present com- 
monwealth was known as Oklahoma Territory. 

52. Territorial Government. While under this form of fed- 
eral tutelage the citizens enjoyed many liberties, although two 
very important functions were denied them. These were the 
right to choose their executive with all his heads of depart- 
ments and assistants, and to say who should be their judges 
and other court officials. Likewise, the single delegate sent 
to Congress had no vote. But the people of the territory 
were given local self-government in the townships, cities, 
and counties. They elected their own legislature and had 

28 



HOW TERRITORIES BECOME STATES 29 

control of the taxes levied and moneys expended (Boynton, 
pp. 144-145). Territorial government is similar in form to 
that of a state. The exceptions above noted are the chief 
differences. These differences are minimized when the 
men appointed reside in the section over which they are to 
preside. Notwithstanding, a territorial form of government 
is far from self-government. The only way that a corrupt 
or inefficient appointee can be removed, is to convince the 
President of his incompetency. This is frequently very hard 
to do, since it is almost impossible to arrive at the exact truth 
in such cases. However, the government of Oklahoma Terri- 
tory was in the main satisfactory, and was, in general, the 
same as that adopted by the delegates of the people when 
they met to form a state government. 

53. Indian Territory. The enabling act that passed Con- 
gress June 14, 1906, extended the boundaries of the state 
about to be formed, to include Indian Territory. This section 
of the present state of Oklahoma had never had a territorial 
form of government. In the early years of the nineteenth 
century the region now embraced in the state of Oklahoma 
had been set apart for an Indian empire. The Five Civilized 
Tribes (Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, and Chicka- 
saws) were settled here. They formed tribal governments, 
republican in form, that were fairly efficient. Notwithstanding 
the fact that other tribes and remnants of tribes subsequently 
settled in this section, the population grew very slowly. 
Much of the land remained unoccupied, some of which the 
Indians receded to the government, thus affording land for 
the '' first opening " in 1889. But the white men who moved 
upon these receded tracts were not the only ones who came 
into' the Indian country. At first they came in slowly, later by 



30 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

the thousands. White interlopers moved into the territory of 
the Civihzed Tribes. These whites were not always welcome, 
yet they were tolerated. They worked the Indian lands, de- 
veloped rich mines, and settled in the towns, but these white 
men had no standing in the tribal courts. They were recog- 
nized in no way by the tribal law. Such an anomaly could 
not long exist ; and the federal government, in spite of the 
Indians' treaty rights, was forced to step in and give the 
white population legal recognition. This was done through 
the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Dawes Commission. 

54. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Previous to 1871 each 
Indian tribe was treated as a foreign nation, but in that 
year a bill was passed making them wards of the nation. 
Their interests are now looked after by the Bureau of In- 
dian Affairs (Boynton, p. 213), under the secretary of the 
interior. A board of Indian commissioners oversees the ex- 
penditures of money and inspects the goods purchased for 
all agency Indians. Inspectors visit the agencies and examine 
into the condition of the various tribes. Agents are appointed, 
who, with the help of teachers, mechanics, and farmers, 
promote the Indians' welfare intellectually and industrially. 
Indian schools are maintained at every agency. The institu- 
tions for the more advanced students are supported at vari- 
ous places throughout the country. The schools at Carlisle, 
Pennsylvania, and Hampton, Virginia, are especially famous. 
Because of Oklahoma's large Indian population it has had 
much to do with the Department of the Interior and the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

55. The Dawes Commission. A division of the Depart- 
ment of the Interior is a committee of three men, organized 
in 1893, to look after the interests of the Five Civilized 



HOW TERRITORIES BECOME STATES 31 

Tribes. Its main ofifice is in Muskogee. Previous to the 
establishment of the Dawes Commission, government in the 
Indian Territory was in a chaotic condition. United States 
marshals tried to keep order, and would take offenders off 
to Fort Smith, Arkansas, or to Texas to stand trial in the 
federal courts. There were no taxes, and consequently no 
public roads or bridges, and no public schools supported by 
the white residents. The Indian schools soon became crowded 
and white children were shut out altogether. Private enter- 
prise was at a low ebb, because the Indians owned the land. 
Treaties were finally obtained by the general government 
from all the tribes, in which the Indians agreed to take their 
lands in severalty. In 1898 Congress extended the laws of 
Arkansas over Indian Territory, and the same year the en- 
rollment of Indians began. The allotment of separate farms 
to every man, woman, and child had progressed so rapidly 
that in 1907 the Indian governments ceased to exist. Indian 
citizens had become American citizens. 

56. Removal of Restrictions. After an Indian, inter- 
married citizen, or freedman had been put upon the tribal 
roll he was given a definite plot of land, the number of 
acres allotted varying according to the class of the land. 
(Freedmen were not placed upon exactly the same plane as 
others on the rolls.) Land thus allotted was not to be sold 
for twenty-one years. From time to time, however. Congress 
removed the restrictions from certain classes of citizens. 
The Dawes Commission, under the secretary of the interior, 
was given authority to determine when the necessary condi- 
tions had been met. Still progress was greatly handicapped 
by the fact that the title to nine tenths of the country could 
not be had, and highly educated Indians were not allowed to 



32 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

dispose of their holdings. In May, 1908, however, a bill was 
approved by the President, removing the restrictions from 
ten million acres. The act provided that intermarried 
whites, freedmen, and mix-blood Indians having less than 
half Indian blood, including minors, shall be free from all 
restrictions. This puts an immense dominion subject to 
taxation, but, better than this, it marks the full recog- 
nition of the fact that these Indians are no longer wards 
of the nation, but true American citizens, — free in every 
particular. 

57. Indian Territory School System. By the terms of 
the Curtis Act, passed in 1898, a system of schools for white 
children was established in the Five Civilized Tribes. Indians 
also attend these free schools if they so desire, although 
most of them choose to attend tribal schools. Separate 
schools have always been provided for negroes. A superin- 
tendent of schools for the Indian Territory was appointed ; 
and four supervisors of education — one each for the Chero- 
kees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, and one for the Creeks and 
Seminoles — were given direct charge of the free schools of 
these nations. The federal government appropriated funds 
to carry on the work in rural communities, and each locality 
was expected to assist in some way in meeting the expenses 
of the school. The incorporated cities of the Indian Terri- 
tory had sufficient taxable property to maintain a system of 
schools without federal aid. In 1908 Congress appropriated 
three hundred thousand dollars for the maintenance of these 
schools for the year. By the cooperation of the federal 
authorities with the county superintendents, localities that 
could have almost no school are now able to have a full; 
term. When the last restriction bill comes into full effect 



HOW TERRITORIES BECOME STATES 33 

it is believed that there will be sufficient taxable land to 
support the schools, when federal aid will naturally cease. 

58. Admission of Territories. States are usually admitted 
into the Union in one of two ways. Congress may pass an, 
'' enabling act " by which the people are allowed to form a 
state constitution (Boynton, pp. 231-232). In this constitu- 
tion certain provisions must be incorporated, which are set 
forth in the enabling act. Most of the states of the Union 
have been admitted in this way. Other territories have be- 
come states by submitting to Congress a constitution that 
meets the approbation of that body. Upon the approval of 
the constitution thus submitted the territory becomes a state. 
Michigan, Kansas, and Oregon came into the Union by 
this method. 

59. The Oklahoma Enabling Act. Oklahoma was admitted 
by the former method. An enabling act was passed, set- 
ting forth certain conditions that must be met by the ter- 
ritories before the President could proclaim them a state. 
Other restrictions were put upon the new commonwealth, 
which, if infringed, will be enforced through the federal 
courts. We present a detailed digest of this act, because, on 
its acceptance, the enabling act became a part of the consti- 
tution. The following ordinance of acceptance was passed 
by the convention : ''Be it ordained by the constitutional 
convention for the proposed state of Oklahoma, that said 
constitutional convention do, by this ordinance irrevocable, 
accept the terms and conditions of an act of Congress of 
the United States, entitled. An act to enable the people 
of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory to form a constitution 
and state government and be admitted into the Union on an 
equal footing with the original states." 



34 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

60. Provisions of the Enabling Act. Some of the more 
important provisions of the enabhng act follow : Plural 
marriages are forever prohibited in Oklahoma ; no act can 
be passed infringing perfect religious toleration ; right of 
suffrage cannot be abridged on account of race, color, or 
previous condition of servitude ; rights and property of the 
Indians in the two territories can in no way be impaired ; 
sale of liquor in Indian Territory, Osage Nation, and all 
Indian reservations in existence after January i, 1908, is 
prohibited for twenty-one years, but the state legislature 
may authorize the establishment of dispensaries where liquor 
may be sold for scientific, medicinal, and industrial purposes. 
The state legislature may authorize one agency in each town 
of not less than two thousand population for the sale of liquor, 
and one in each county not containing a town of two thou- 
sand population ; druggists may be allowed to sell liquor in 
restricted territory for medicinal purposes, but the sales must 
be registered upon the affidavit of the purchaser, and the drug- 
gist's bond must be one thousand dollars to secure rigid en- 
forcement of the law ; separate schools for white and colored 
children may be established if desired ; two United States 
senators and five congressmen are allowed the state ; the 
constitutional convention was to consist of one hundred and 
twelve delegates ; one hundred thousand dollars was donated 
by Congress to pay the expenses of organizing the state gov- 
ernment ; Oklahoma is to have two federal district courts ; 
one million fifty thousand extra acres of public land was 
given to the state ; if the school lands are sold, it shall be by 
appraisal and sale in tracts of one hundred and sixty acres or 
less at public auction ; five million dollars is added to the 
state's permanent school fund because of Indian Territory's 



HOW TERRITORIES BECOME STATES 35 

lack of school lands ; section 3 3 is reserved for public build- 
ings ; the other public lands are reserved for common schools 
and state colleges ; reserved mineral lands of the state may 
be leased, but shall not be sold prior to January i, 191 5. 
The government of the state must be republican in form. 



CHAPTER V 
OKLAHOMA CONSTITUTION — BILL OF RIGHTS 

61. The Constitutional Convention. The delegates elected 
under the foregoing Enabling Act met in Guthrie, November 
20, 1906. The convention was in session until July 16, 1907, 
but not continuously. The constitution adopted by these dele- 
gates is the longest document of its kind in this country. 
Because of the peculiar relations of the two territories that 
composed the new state, much material had to be inserted 
that quite naturally would not occur in similar documents. 
But the very nature of the instrument itself compelled that 
it be lengthy and detailed (Boynton, p. 269). 

62. The Oklahoma Constitution. The Oklahoma consti- 
tution was ratified by the electors of the two territories, 
September 17, 1907. On November 16, the same year, 
statehood was proclaimed by the President. Previously the 
document had been subjected to a rigid examination by 
President Roosevelt and Attorney-General Bonaparte, his 
legal adviser, to see whether or not the charter squared with 
the Constitution of the United States and the enabling act. 
Owing to the length of the document only the most impor- 
tant phases will be discussed here. 

63. The Preamble. -' Invoking the guidance of Almighty 
God, in order to secure and perpetuate the blessing of lib- 
erty ; secure just and rightful government ; promote our mutual 
welfare and happiness, we, the people of the state of Okla- 
homa, do ordain and establish this constitution." The phrase 

36 



OKLAHOMA CONSTITUTION 37 

invoking the aid of Almighty God was expressly inserted to 
show that Oklahoma is a God-fearing, Christian republic. 

64. Contents of the Oklahoma Constitution. In general 
form the Oklahoma constitution is very similar to that of 
the nation. It consists of twenty-four articles and a '' sched- 
ule " ; also the prohibitory amendment and a resolution 
adopting the Constitution of the United States, and another 
accepting the enabling act. Most of the articles are in turn 
divided into sections. After the preamble the articles in turn 
take up the various topics as follows : I, Federal relations ; 
II, Bill of Rights; III, Suffrage; IV, Distribution of pow- 
ers ; V, Legislative department ; VI, Executive department ; 
VII, Judicial department; VIII, Impeachment and removal 
from office ; IX, Corporations ; X, Revenue and taxation ; 
XI, State and school lands; XII, Homesteads and exemp- 
tions; XIII, Education; XIV, Banks and banking; XV, 
Oath of office ; XVI, Public roads, highways, and internal 
improvements; XVII, Counties; XVIII, Municipal corpo- 
rations ; XIX, Insurance ; XX, Manufacture and commerce ; 
XXI, Public institutions ; XXII, Alien and corporate owner- 
ship of lands ; XXIII, Miscellaneous ; XXIV, Constitutional 
amendments. Then follows the "schedule" under which 
the instrument is signed, and following this are the prohibit- 
ory provision, which was voted upon separately, and the two 
resolutions above noted. 

65. Federal Relations. The seven sections of Article I 
are chiefly statements accepting the conditions of the ena- 
bling act. "The state of Oklahoma is an inseparable part of 
the federal Union, and the Constitution of the United States 
is the supreme law of the land " (Art. I, sect. i). This is an 
apt expression of the present relation of the state to the 



38 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

Union. It is only since the Civil War that the states have 
fully realized that they are an inseparable part of the Union. 

66. The Oklahoma Bill of Rights. In the Oklahoma con- 
stitution (Art. II) the Bill of Rights (Boynton, p. 243) bears 
the very place of honor in the state's basic law. It is much 
more detailed than is the Bill of Rights in the federal Con- 
stitution. Of the thirty-three sections in this Bill of Rights 
we will merely discuss the few that differ widely from those 
found in the constitutions of other states. 

67. Habeas Corpus. '' The privilege of the writ of habeas 
corpus (Boynton, pp. 153-154) shall never be suspended by 
the authorities of the state " (Art. II, sect. 10). This clause 
in the Bill of Rights is one of its radical departures. Article I, 
sect. 9, of the federal Constitution states that '' The privilege 
of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless 
when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety shall 
require it." The Oklahoma constitution makes no exceptions. 
The writ of habeas corpus is never to be suspended. 

68. Trial by Jury. Juries in courts of record, that is, a 
higher court where felonies are tried, consist of twelve men. 
In a justice court (chap, i, § 9) or a county court (chap, iii, 
§ 46 ) six men can try a case. A case not involving twenty 
dollars is usually first tried in one of these lower courts, be- 
cause the expense is much less than in a district court ; but 
wherever the case is first tried the constitution expressly pro- 
vides that laws may be provided limiting appeals in cases 
'' involving less than twenty dollars." This is to prevent 
clogging a higher court with trivial business. In all civil 
suits, and also in all criminal cases, except where the death 
penalty or a penitentiary sentence may follow conviction, 
when a unanimous decision is required, three fourths of the 



OKLAHOMA CONSTITUTION 39 

jury can decide the case. This clause in our constitution is 
a radical departure from the English law, which always de- 
manded a unanimous decision. Its purpose is to make it 
easier to transact court business by avoiding so many di- 
vided juries. 

69. Contempt of Court. Contempt of court arises generally 
from violating some court order. Sometimes contempt of court 
is held to be talking or writing disrespectfully of a judge or 
his decisions. This kind of contempt can be adjudged through 
the law of libel, but orders in chancery or equity have always 
been dealt with by the judge. The person accused of break- 
ing the order is brought into court. The judge makes the 
investigation and assesses the punishment. Men are not in- 
frequently sentenced to long terms in jail or to pay large 
fines in this summary fashion. As a rule Americans are very 
careful whom they elect as judges, yet, to make doubly sure, 
personal liberty as already safeguarded by the Bill of Rights 
provides as follows : '' Every one accused of violating an in- 
junction or other restraining order of a court is now allowed 
a trial by jury, provided the alleged contempt is not com- 
mitted in the presence of the court." This contempt pro- 
vision in the Oklahoma Bill of Rights presents, possibly, 
the most radical provision in the constitution of the state. 
It is well to note, however, that the judge can impose penal- 
ties for contempt committed in his presence. Only in this 
way could the authority and dignity of the court be main- 
tained (Art. II, sect. 25). 

70. When Incriminating Evidence can be Required. It is 
an old rule of law that a person shall not be compelled to 
give evidence that will render him liable to a criminal prose- 
cution, and this is the general rule in Oklahoma (Art. II, 



40 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

sect. 2i). But this section of the Bill of Rights must be 
read in connection with section 71. It is there stated that 
under certain circumstances incriminating evidence must be 
given, but the one giving such evidence cannot be prose- 
cuted or subject to any penalty for matters thus revealed. 
This is another provision to prevent overriding the law. 

71. Books of All Corporations can be Investigated (Boyn- 
ton, p. 216). At all times the records, books, and files of all 
corporations shall be '' liable and subject to the full visi- 
torial and inquisitorial powers of the state, notwithstanding 
the immunities and privileges in this Bill of Rights secured 
to the persons, inhabitants, and citizens thereof" (Art. II, 
sect. 28). Another section (30) of this article provides 
that no search warrant shall issue except upon probable 
cause, and in no way are the citizens of Oklahoma subject to 
any such thing as the Writs of Assistance that distracted our 
fathers in colonial days. But this section provides that cor- 
porations shall be subject to just such inquisitorial powers in 
regard to their books. The Oklahoma constitution provides 
that the right of search does extend to corporations. The 
reason for this is that corporations are created by the state, 
and therefore should be subject to the full visitorial and 
inquisitorial powers of the state (chap, xiv, § 243). 

72. No Person shall be Transported. No person shall be 
transported out of the state for any offense committed within 
the state, nor shall any person be transported out of the state 
for any purpose, without his consent, except by due process of 
law ; but nothing in this provision shall prevent the operation 
of extradition laws, or the transporting of persons sen- 
tenced for crime, to other states for the purpose of incarcera- 
tion (Art. II, sect. 29). It is contrary to public policy to allow 



OKLAHOMA CONSTITUTION 4 1 

citizens of one state to be seized and transported to another 
for trial, yet it has been done in other states. The Oklahoma 
constitution pereinptorily forbids such abuses. However, if 
one commits a crime and flees to this state, on a proper show- 
ing he must be promptly surrendered for trial in the state 
where the offense occurred. This giving up of persons ac- 
cused of crime is termed extradition. The English Bill of 
Rights of 1689 and the Bill of Rights found in the first ten 
amendments to the national Constitution contain all other 
essential provisions of the other articles of the Oklahoma 
Bill of Rights. 



CHAPTER VI 

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT, SENATE AND HOUSE OF 
REPRESENTATIVES 

73. Threefold Division of Government. The powers of 
the government of the state of Oklahoma are divided into 
three separate departments, — the legislative, executive, and 
judicial ; and except as provided in the constitution, these 
departments must be separate and distinct, and neither shall 
exercise the powers properly belonging to either of the others 
(Art. IV, sect, i) (Boynton, p. 269). 

74. The Legislative Authority of the State. The constitu- 
tion vests the legislative authority of the state in a legislature 
(Boynton, p. 272), consisting of a senate and a house of 
representatives ; but the people reserve to themselves the 
power to propose laws and amendments to the constitution, 
and to enact or reject the same at the polls independent of 
the legislature, and also reserve power, at their own option, 
to approve or reject at the polls any act of the legislature 
(Art. V, sect. i). Thus the legislative function in Oklahoma 
is divided among four distinct sources of power, — one more 
than we find in the federal government, — as follows : 
(i) house of representatives; (2) senate; (3) governor, by 
veto power (chap, viii, § iii) ; (4) the people, by initiative 
and referendum (chap. vii). There is no special need for a 
two-chambered legislature in the states, as both houses are 
elected directly by the people. In all the states except Rhode 
Island and North Carolina the governor has the right of veto. 

42 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT 43 

75. Initiative and Referendum. The initiative is nothing 
more than a petition, signed by a certain number of legal 
voters, that must be heeded. The referendum is the people's 
veto or approval of the acts of the legislature. The constitu- 
tion says that if the governor approve a law he shall sign it. 
If he does not approve he vetoes it, that is, forbids it. If the 
people approve a law they vote for it, if not, they vote against 
it. All laws are not submitted to the people for an expres- 
sion of their opinion, but practically all legislation can be 
submitted to them if they so desire (see chap. vii). 

76. Senatorial Districts. The state is divided into thirty- 
three senatorial districts, each of which elects one senator, 
while eleven of these districts are allowed an extra senator, 
making forty-four in all. If any county becomes entitled to 
more than two senators, because of its increased population, it 
is given this extra representation in addition to the forty-four 
(Art. V, sect. 9 a). As near as possible the senatorial districts 
are to contain an equal number of inhabitants, which number 
is to be obtained by the latest federal census, or in such man- 
ner as the legislature may direct. These districts must be 
compact, must consist of contiguous territory, and cannot be 
altered from one ten-year period to another. No county can 
be divided to form a senatorial district, unless it is to make 
two or more districts in said county. Nor can a city or ward 
be divided to form a district. These provisions obviate to a 
great extent the possibilities of gerrymander (Boynton, p. 103). 

77. Term of Office of Senators. The term of ofifice of 
each senator is four years. But as only half the senators go 
out of office every two years, the term of those chosen at 
the first election from the even-numbered districts expired 
fifteen days after the regular election in 1908. Those from 



44 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

the odd-numbered districts hold their office until the fifteenth 
day after the election in 19 lo. Where two senators came 
from the same district they had to cast lots for the long 
and short term. 

78. Senators : their Qualifications. Senators must be at 
least twenty-five years of age, must be electors of their re- 
spective districts, and must reside there during their terms 
of office (Art. V, sect. 17) (Boynton, p. 272). 

79. Senate : its Officers. The lieutenant governor (Boyn- 
ton, p. 274) is president of the senate, but has only a casting- 
vote in case of a tie. The senate chooses one of its own 
members president pro tempore^ who presides in the absence 
of the lieutenant governor. It also provides for necessary 
clerks, sergeants-at-arms, doorkeepers, pages, and a post- 
master. The constitution likewise makes this very important 
provision : ' ' The senate shall provide for all its standing com- 
mittees and, by a majority vote, elect the members thereof" 
(Art. V, sect. 98). The power to choose legislative com- 
mittees is one of the most important in the state. In the 
nation it has made the speaker (Boynton, p. 171) of the 
house of representatives almost as powerful as the Presi- 
dent, and in Oklahoma this power allowed the speaker greatly 
enhances his authority (chap, vi, § 83). The senate, however, 
allows no one man to appoint its standing committees and 
thereby control legislation. 

80. The Senate : its Executive Powers. The United 
States Senate has many executive powers (Boynton, p. 149). 
Chief of these is its power to pass on all appointments of the 
President. Since in Oklahoma most of the administrative 
officers under the governor are elected, the state senate has 
no such wide executive powers. Such a right only comes to 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT 45 

it when the law creating the office specifies that the official 
appointed under it shall be confirmed by the senate. 

81. Representative Districts : Term of Office : Apportion- 
ment. The total population of the state is divided by one 
hundred, and legislative districts are established, each con- 
taining, as nearly as possible, this number of inhabitants. 
But the membership in the house of representatives will 
always be considerably larger than one hundred, because if 
any representative district has a sufficiently large fraction 
left over, it will be given additional representation (Art. V, 
sect. 10). Representatives are elected in the even years and 
hold office for two years. Each county is given at least one 
representative, if it has sufficient population to in any way 
warrant it (Boynton, p. 273). 

82. Representatives : their Qualifications. Members of 
the house of representatives in Oklahoma must be twenty- 
one years of age at the time of their election. They also, 
like the senators, must be qualified electors in their respec- 
tive counties or districts, and must reside therein during 
their term of office. 

83. Speaker. The constitution provides that the house 
of representatives shall, at the beginning of each regular 
session, and at such other times as may be necessary, elect 
one of its members speaker (Art. V, sect. 29). It is to be 
observed that the speaker, unlike the lieutenant governor, is 
a regularly elected member of the body over which he pre- 
sides. If he chooses to exercise his right, he has a vote upon 
every question that comes before the body. The powers of 
the speaker in shaping legislation are extensive. This is 
because of the rule of the house - allowing him to appoint 
all standing committees. By this means the speaker sees to 



46 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

it that men favorable to his ideas are put in the majority upon 
all important committees. All legislative measures must be 
first passed upon by some one of these committees before 
the house considers them. If the committee to which a bill 
has been referred approves of it, then it is reported back to 
the representatives for consideration ; if the committee does 
not approve, it refuses to report the bill and it is '' strangled " 
in the committee. It is easy to understand, if the speaker has 
control of a majority of all committees, that only such bills as 
he approves can become laws. The extensive authority of 
the Oklahoma speaker is based on the wide powers granted 
the presiding officer of the federal lower house. However, it 
is well to note that the extensive powers of the speaker rest 
upon the consent of the members of the house. If at any 
time a majority decides to clip his dictatorial powers, it can 
be done easily. The other officers of the house are about 
the same as those of the senate (Boynton, pp. 1 71-173). 

84. Adjournment and Special Sessions. Neither house 
during the session of the legislature shall, without the con- 
sent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, and 
cannot adjourn to any other place than that in which the two 
houses shall be sitting (Art. V, sect. 30). But in case of a 
disagreement between the two houses, with respect to the 
time of adjournment, the governor may adjourn them to 
such time as he may deem proper. He can also convoke the 
legislature, or adjourn it to another place, when in his opinion 
the public safety or the safety or health of the members 
require it. 

85. Revenue Bills. All bills for raising revenue must 
originate in the house of representatives. The senate may 
propose amendments to revenue bills. This is in accordance 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT 47 

with the federal Constitution, which requires that all revenue 
bills originate in the lower house (Boynton, p. 147). The 
reason for this is that the house of representatives is much 
nearer the people than the senate ; but this explanation is 
not of so much force in any state legislature, where both 
senators and representatives are elected directly by the people. 
No revenue bill shall be passed during the last five days of 
the session (Art. V, sect. 38). 

86. Each House Sole Judge of its Own Members. Each 
house is judge of the election, returns, and qualifications 
of its own members (Art. V, sect. 30). This means that 
neither the courts nor the executive have anything to say as to 
whether a person has been elected a member of either house, 
or whether the conduct of a member after election is such 
that he can continue to' serve. This provision is in the con- 
stitution, in order to keep the legislature an absolutely distinct 
branch of the government. However, it takes two thirds to 
expel a member (Art. V, sect. 30). 

87. Salary. Members of the legislature receive six dollars 
per day during the sessions of the legislature, and ten cents 
per mile for every mile of necessary travel in going to and 
returning from the place of meeting, on the most usual route. 
They shall receive no other compensation. It is also pro- 
vided that after sixty days of each session have elapsed they 
can receive but two dollars per day. This is to induce them 
to finish up the business of the legislature and adjourn as 
soon as possible (Art. V, sect. 21). 

88. Vacancies. The governor shall issue writs of election 
to fill such vacancies as may occur in the legislature (Art. V, 
sect. 20). Other vacancies are generally filled by appoint- 
ment, but the members of the legislature must always be 



48 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

elected. By this provision the legislature is kept a distinct 
branch of the government. The members have the people 
who elect them to thank for their office, and no one else 
(Boynton, p. 105, concerning vacancies in Congress). 

89. No Member to Vote if Personally Interested in a Bill. 
The constitution provides that a member of the legislature 
who has a personal or private interest in any measure or bill 
proposed or pending before the legislature shall disclose the 
fact to the house of which he is a member, and shall not 
vote thereon (Art. V, sect. 24). 

90. Quorum. A majority of each house constitutes a 
quorum to do business ; but a smaller number may adjourn 
from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attend- 
ance of absent members, in such manner and under such 
penalty as each house may provide '(Art. V, sect. 30). 

91. Journal of Proceedings. Each house shall keep a 
journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the 
same. The yeas and nays of the members of either house 
on any question, at the desire of one fifth of those present, 
shall be entered upon its journal (Art. V, sect. 30). By this 
means is the public informed of what goes on in the legisla- 
ture. There are also public galleries in each of the chambers, 
where citizens may attend the session of either the senate or 
the house, and personally observe how their legislators conduct 
public business. 

92. Joint Sessions. United States senators are elected by 
the legislature in joint session, the lieutenant governor and 
speaker presiding jointly. The legislature in joint session 
canvasses the vote for all elective state officers, the one hav- 
ing the highest number of votes being declared elected. In 
case of a tie vote between two or more candidates, the 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT 49 

legislature shall forthwith, by joint ballot, choose one of the 
persons having an equal number of votes for said office. 

93. How Laws are Passed. Every bill shall be read on 
three different days in each house. No bill shall become a 
law unless, on its final passage, it is read at length, and a 
majority of all the members elected to each house vote in its 
favor. The question upon final passage shall be taken upon 
its last reading, and the yeas and nays shall be entered upon 
the journal (Art. V, sect. 34). 

94. Every Act to have an Express Title. Every act of 
the legislature shall embrace but one subject, which shall be 
clearly expressed in the title, except general appropriation 
bills, general revenue bills, and bills adopting a code of laws 
(Art. V, sect. 57). This provision is to prevent the shpping 
through the legislature of objectionable measures by the use 
of false titles. It also prevents the use of '' riders," i.e. tack- 
ing on to a good bill things that are opposed by many. 

95. Emergency Legislation. No act shall take effect until 
ninety days after the adjournment of the session at which 
it was passed, except enactments for carrying into effect 
provisions relating to the initiative and referendum, or gen- 
eral appropriation bills, unless, in case of emergency to be 
expressed in the act, the legislature, by a vote of two thirds 
of all members elected to each house, so direct. Emergency 
bills only include measures immediately necessary for the 
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety. Emer- 
gency measures may be vetoed by the governor, but they may 
be passed over the veto by a three-fourths vote of each house. 
It takes but a two-thirds majority to pass an ordinary measure 
over the governor's veto. Emergency bills are not subject to 
referendum (chap, vii, § 103). 



CHAPTER VII 

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT, INITIATIVE AND 
REFERENDUM 

96. Principle of Direct Legislation. The one great object 
of Oklahoma's constitution builders was to bring the govern- 
ment as near to the people as possible. It would be abso- 
lutely out of the question in any large and populous state, to 
have all the people meet in a single primary assembly and 
enact laws. To overcome this, another system of pure de- 
mocracy has been devised. By means of the initiative any 
citizen can frame a law, and if a sufficient number of electors 
join with him and sign this law, it must be presented to the 
voters of the state. At this referendum (election) this law is 
either adopted or rejected. Oklahoma's constitution contains 
such provision. 

97. The Initiative. The initiative is really nothing but a 
petition addressed to the governor, which must be heeded, 
if it is presented in legal form. The governor must then 
appoint a day for the vote to be taken upon this measure. 
Thus if the Oklahoma legislature neglects or refuses to pass 
laws that are demanded, the, people have a means of obtain- 
ing the desired legislation. Only qualified electors can sign 
an initiative petition. Eight per cent of the legal voters have 
the right to propose any legislative measure, but fifteen per 
cent of the legal voters must sign the petition, if the pro- 
posed measure is an amendment to the constitution (Art. V, 
sect. 2). If any measure is proposed by initiative and fails, 

50 



INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM 51 

then a petition of twenty-five per cent of the quahfied electors 
must be obtained before a referendum can again be held on 
the same question within three years (Art. V, sect. 6) ; but 
if one is willing to wait three years before initiating the same 
measure, then the usual per' cents hold as at first. The reason 
for this large per cent of signers in order to obtain a rehear- 
ing is to prevent worrying the people with the reconsideration 
of a measure but recently voted upon. The ratio and per cent 
of legal voters are based upon the number of votes cast for 
all candidates who, at the last general election, ran for the 
'' state office that received the highest number of votes." 

98. What the Governor does with the Initiative Petition. 
The governor submits said initiative petition to the voters of 
the state. The style or heading of all referenda must be : 
"Be it enacted by the people of the state of Oklahoma." 
This vote is termed a referendum, and must be taken at the 
next regular election throughout the state, except when the 
legislature or the governor shall order a special election for 
the express purpose of making such reference. If a majority 
of the votes cast are for the measure, it takes effect and is 
in force immediately (Art. V, sect. 3). 

99. Governor cannot veto an Initiated Law. The governor 
cannot veto an act passed by the people, but the legislature 
can repeal such a statute just as it can any other law. Of 
course, if the people pass a constitutional amendment by 
initiative and referendum, the legislature cannot alter this any 
more than it can any other portion of the constitution. The 
governor is not allowed to veto an act passed by initiative 
and referendum, because it is not contemplated that one 
man should interpose his will against that of the whole 
people. • - 



52 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

100. Why the Legislature can repeal an Initiated Statute. 

If the constitution had not provided that the legislature could 
repeal statutes passed by initiative and referendum, it is doubt- 
ful whether our constitution would have been proclaimed as 
in accordance with the enabling act, which provides that the 
government of the state must be republican in form. If the 
representatives of the people had not been given this author- 
ity, then the constitution would have been democratic instead 
of republican in this respect, and just that much out of accord 
with the enabling act (Art. V, sect. 7). 

101. The Referendum. The referendum is an election. 
We have seen that the initiative is a petition framed as a law. 
It is without force or value until enacted into law by a majority 
at a referendum. But the referendum is not only used to 
enact statutes and constitutional amendments framed by ini- 
tiative petition ; it is also used to prevent laws that the people 
do not want. If the legislature passes a law that the people 
do not want, a means has been provided by the constitution 
for .the people to veto the measure. Such a referendum vote 
may be ordered in two ways : first, by the people, when the 
legislation is considered as objectionable ; and second, by the 
legislature, when the members are not sure whether or not 
the- people wish a certain law. 

102. How the People order a Referendum. A referendum 
petition demanding that a certain law, passed by the legisla- 
ture, be submitted to the people needs to be signed by but 
five per cent of the legal voters of the state to obtain such 
referendum. Said petition must be filed within ninety days 
after the final adjournment of the session of the legislature 
which enacted the bill on which the referendum is demanded 
(Art. V, sect. 3). The referendum may be demanded by the 



INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM 53 

people against one or more items, sections, or parts of any 
act of the legislature, in the same manner in which such 
power may be exercised against a complete act. If a majority 
of the electors vote against it, the law is null and void (Art. V, 
sect. 2). 

103. Emergency Legislation not Subject to Referendum. 
Laws necessary for the immediate preservation of the public 
peace, health, or safety are termed emergency legislation. Acts 
that have failed to receive the necessary two thirds to declare 
an emergency do not go into effect until ninety days after 
the adjournment of the session at which they were passed. 
Against these the referendum can be invoked. Emergency 
laws go into effect at once, and are therefore not subject to 
the referendum. Such a petition would stop the operation of 
the law until it had been voted upon, and the very nature 
of an emergency law demands that it go into effect at once. 
There is no reason why one cannot file an initiative petition 
repealing an emergency law that is not wanted, and if ratified 
at the poles, the law ceases to be of effect. General appro- 
priation bills become effective as soon as passed (Art. V, 
sect. 8), but such acts or even separate clauses in such acts 
may be delayed until passed upon by the people. The filing 
of a referendum petition against one or more items, sections, 
or parts of an act, however, does not delay the remainder of 
such act from becoming operative (Art. V, sect. 4). 

104. Constitutional Amendments. Fifteen per cent of the 
qualified electors of the state can demand that an initiative 
petition be submitted to amend the constitution of the state. 
A majority of both branches of the legislature may order a 
referendum to amend the constitution or to approve a statute. 
It requires a majority of all the votes cast at an election to adopt 



54 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

an amendment to the constitution, while but a majority of all 
the votes cast upon any particular proposition is required to 
enact a statute. A two-thirds vote of each house of the legis- 
lature can order a special election to vote upon constitutional 
amendments. Also the governor has authority to call such 
an election provided an initiative petition to amend the con- 
stitution has been presented to him. If a special election is 
not called, the proposition is voted upon at the next general 
election. No convention can be called by the legislature to 
propose alterations, revisions, or amendments to the consti- 
tution, or to propose a new constitution, unless the law pro- 
viding for such convention shall first be approved by the 
people on a referendum vote. The amendments, alterations, 
revisions, or new constitution proposed by such convention 
must be submitted to the electors of the state, and must re- 
ceive a majority of all electors voting thereon, before becom- 
ing effective. The question as to whether the people wish 
such a convention to revise the constitution must be sub- 
mitted to the electorate of the state every twenty years 
(Art. XXIV, sect. 2). 



CHAPTER VIII 

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 

105. Executive Department. Upon the governor, with 
the numerous administrative officers and commissions under 
him, falls the duty of executing the laws. According to 
Article IV of the constitution, the executive department of 
the state's government (Boynton, pp. 264-286) is a coordinate 
or equal branch of its government. The governor cannot in- 
trude on the authority of the legislature or judges, but neither 
can either of these departments infringe on his jurisdiction. 

106. A Divided Executive. It is well to note at the be- 
ginning that the executive authority in the state is divided 
among numerous men, and that therefore the power of the 
governor (Boynton, pp. 276-277) is limited. The President 
appoints and has full control over the administrative officers 
under him. If a cabinet officer (Boynton, p. 203) should 
refuse to do as directed by the President, he can be sum- 
marily removed. The governor of the state has no such ex- 
ecutive powers. The so-called administrative officials in the 
state are really departmental executives. Within the limita- 
tions of their own office they perform their duties as they, 
please, without any dictation from the governor. The admin- 
istrative officials in the state who are elected, are responsible 
to the people who elect them, not to the governor. Thus it 
is clear that Oklahoma has a decentralized executive. The 
nation has a centralized executive. The governor, however, 
usually has the same authority over the few men he appoints 

55 



56 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

as does the President over his appointees ; but it is only the 
subordinate officers of the state over which the governor has 
this power. All the chief administrative officials are elected. 
Again, the governor's executive power is divided with a host 
of subordinate county, city, and civil district officials. These 
officials help execute the laws of the state. Their authority 
comes from the people, not from the governor, and they are 
just as apt to thwart the state's chief executive as to coincide 
with his views. The extent of national authority over the states 
is limited by the constitution (Boynton, p. 152), but just so far 
as that authority runs, the executive power of the President 
is not curtailed. The one infringement on the President's 
executive powers has come through the civil service, and 
every President in recent years has advocated such restric- 
tions of his appointing power. 

107. The Governor : Qualifications ; Term ; Salary. The 
supreme executive power is vested in a chief magistrate, who 
is styled The Governor of the State of Oklahoma (Art. VI, 
sect. 2). The governor must be a male citizen of the United 
States, thirty years of age, and for three years next previous 
to his election a qualified elector of the state. His term of 
office is for four years at a salary of $4500 per year. The 
term begins on the second Monday in January after the 
November election. State elections fall in the even years 
between the presidential elections ; by this means it is hoped 
to avoid confusing state with national issues. Presidential 
elections occur in 1908, 191 2, 19 16, etc.; state elections 
will come in 1910, 1914, 1918, etc. 

108. Reeligibility of the Governor and of Others. The 
governor is not allowed to immediately succeed himself. Three 
other officials of the executive department are placed under 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 57 

the same restriction ; they are the secretary of state, state 
auditor, and state treasurer. It is often charged that execu- 
tives, instead of administering the law without fear or favor, 
spend a great portion of their first term fixing things so that 
they can be reelected. By preventing immediate succession 
it is believed that the governor will execute the laws with 
greater singleness of purpose and less striving to maintain 
himself in office. The term of secretary of state, auditor, and 
treasurer is limited, because it is believed that new men should 
check these officials up at the close of their term. They all 
handle large sums of the state's money, like the secretary of state 
and treasurer, or draw out these funds, like the auditor. To avoid 
mistake or mismanagement in the finances of the common- 
wealth, it was deemed best to have a change every four years. 
109. Executive Duties of Governor (Art. VI). The execu- 
tive duties of the governor need no further explanation than 
to be enumerated, except his power of convoking the senate 
in its executive capacity. The right to confirm some officials 
appointed by the governor is retained by the upper house of 
the legislature. This is the only executive power possessed 
by the senate, and to exercise this authority is the only reason 
that it should ever be summoned in extraordinary session 
without the house of representatives. The governor is com- 
mander in chief of the militia^ except when in service of the 
United States ; causes the laws to be faithfully executed ; con- 
ducts all intercourse and business with other states and with 

1 The militia of the state consists of twelve companies of infantry, one 
company of engineers, one company of signal corps, a hospital detachment, 
and regimental band. An adjutant-general, under the direction of the gov- 
ernor, is in command of these troops. The adjutant-general and his office 
assistants are the only militiamen regularly in the employ of the state. The 
rest of the state's military force receive pay only when called into service. 



58 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

the United States ; conserves the peace throughout the state ; 
commissions all officers not otherwise commissioned by law ; 
appoints, unless otherwise provided by law, persons to fill 
vacancies until their successors shall have been duly elected ; 
and convokes the senate in its executive capacity. 

110. Legislative Duties of Governor. The governor has 
extensive control over legislation. He can convoke the legis- 
lature on extraordinary occasions, and at such times no sub- 
ject can be considered except those he recommends. In time 
of invasion or rebellion, for the sake of public safety, he can 
convoke the legislature at a different place than the state 
capital. Also, in case the health or safety of the members is 
endangered, he can adjourn them to a different place ; but 
in this case two thirds of all members elected in each house 
will have to agree to the change. Also, in case of a disagree- 
ment between the two houses of the legislature, at a regular 
or special session, with respect to the time of adjournment, 
the governor may, if the facts be certified to him by the pre- 
siding officer of the house first moving the adjournment, ad- 
journ them to such time as he shall deem proper, not beyond 
the day of the next stated meeting of the legislature (Art. VI, 
sect. 1 4) . Another method by which the governor may direct 
legislation is by the exercise of his power to send messages 
to the legislature. ''At every session of the legislature, and 
immediately upon its organization, the governor shall com- 
municate by message, delivered to a joint session of the two 
houses, upon the condition of the state, and shall recom- 
mend such matters to the legislature as he shall judge ex- 
pedient" (Art. VI, sect. 9). But this formal message can be 
supplemented at any time by terse communications on any 
subject which the governor thinks demands attention. An able 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 59 

executive can use such message with telUng effect in forcing 
a reluctant legislature to pass bills he counts of importance. 

111. The Veto. The greatest of the governor's legislative 
powers is his right of veto. This allows the state's chief 
magistrate to pass final judgment on every enactment the 
legislature frames. The word veto means, '' I forbid." If 
vetoed, a bill goes back to the house where it originated, 
where the governor's objections are entered on the journal. 
If, after such reconsideration, two thirds of the members 
elected to that house shall agree to pass the bill or joint 
resolution, it shall be sent, together with the objection, to 
the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered ; 
and if approved by two thirds of the members elected to 
that house, it shall become a law, notwithstanding the objec- 
tion of the governor. In all such cases the vote in both 
houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names 
of the members voting shall be entered on the journal of 
each house respectively. If the governor fails to either sign 
or veto (Boynton, p. 277) a bill within five days (Sundays 
excepted), it becomes a law without his signature and with- 
out further ceremony. But if the legislature adjourns, the 
governor is given fifteen days in which to sign bills passed 
before adjournment. If he fails to sign a bill within this time, 
the measure falls exactly as if he had vetoed it. This is known 
as the " pocket veto." The governor has still further privileges 
in the vetoing of special items of an appropriation bill. Thus, 
he can sign the bill granting money, but can forbid one 
or more items in it of which he does not approve. Where 
this right of special veto does not exist, legislatures will 
sometimes put into an appropriation bill one or more items of 
doubtful expediency, while the great body of the bill is in 



6o OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

every way satisfactory. The executive, while not approving 
these clauses, will often sign the bill, because it would take so 
much time to reenact another bill omitting the unsatisfactory 
features. Here the governor need not sign provisions he does 
not approve, just to get others that are desirable. The veto 
power does not extend to initiative and referendum legislation. 

112. Judicial Duties of Governor. In Article VI, sect. lo, 
the constitution provides that the governor has the power to 
grant, after conviction, reprieves, commutations, paroles, and 
pardons for all offenses except cases of impeachment. In this 
way the governor can vary judicial decrees on the criminal 
side. Civil, i.e. property, judgments cannot be changed by 
him. A reprieve is delaying the execution of a sentence so 
that alleged new facts may be presented, which may lead to 
further executive clemency. If the governor changes a sen- 
tence, it is termed a commutation. The executive can lessen, 
never increase, the severity of the punishment. To parole a 
prisoner is to let him out on good behavior. A pardon is the 
granting of full immunity from some court sentence. These 
powers are given the governor to prevent miscarriage of 
justice, and the people generally demand that the executive 
use his judicial authority sparingly and only after mature 
deliberation. The governor can exercise none of his judi- 
cial functions, other than to put off the day of execution of 
a convicted murderer, without first receiving the sanction of 
the state board of pardons (see § 130). 

113. The Lieutenant Governor. The lieutenant governor 
presides over the senate. He is also a member of the state 
banking board. His qualifications must be the same as those 
for governor. His salary is ^ 1 000 per year. If the governor 
should die or become incapacitated in any way during his 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 



6l 



term of office, the lieutenant governor at once becomes gov- 
ernor. In the absence of the governor and the Heutenant 
governor the president pro tempore of the senate becomes 
chief executive.^ In case none of these can serve, the speaker 
of the house of representatives becomes acting governor (Art. 
VI, sect. 15). The legislature is empowered to make further 
provisions for the succession. If the governor leaves the state 
even for a day, the lieutenant governor becomes the acting 
governor. Because of this the state's chief magistrate is 
generally careful never to leave the commonwealth when im- 
portant matters are pending. 

114. The Secretary of State. A register of all the official 
acts of the governor must be kept by the secretary of state. 
When requested he must attest these, and lay copies of the 
same, together with copies of all papers relative thereto, before 
either house of the legislature (Art. VI, sect. 17). He is cus- 
todian of the great seal of the state,^ and with it he must 



1 This provision for the succession in the state is the same as the national 
law up to 1886. In that year the national succession law was altered so that 
the cabinet members succeed to the 
presidency in case of a vacancy, ac- 
cording to their rank (see Boynton, 
pp. 189-190). 

2 The seal was devised by the Hon. 
Gabe Parker, a Choctaw-Indian dele- 
gate to the constitutional convention. 
The large star represents Oklahoma, 
the forty-sixth state. In its center is 
the seal of Oklahoma Territory. The 
upper left-hand ray contains the seal 
of the Cherokee Nation,theChickasaw 
seal is on the ray pointing directly up, 
the upper right-hand ray contains the 
Choctaw emblem, beneath it is the Seminole seal, and the lower left-hand 
ray contains the ancient seal of the Creeks. The small stars represent the 
other forty-five states in the Union. 




62 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

authenticate (stamp) all official acts of the governor except 
his approval of laws. In the secretary of state's office is 
kept the parchment copy of the constitution and all acts of 
the legislature, just as they are engrossed and signed by the 
governor. The vetoed bills are likewise kept in the vaults in 
the office of this official. Initiative and referendum. petitions 
are sent to the secretary of state, addressed to the governor ; 
and all election returns for state officers are sent to him, 
although they are addressed to the speaker of the house of 
representatives. He is elected for a term of four years at a 
salary of $2500 per year. 

115. The State Auditor. In many states the auditor is 
called the comptroller. It is his duty to manage the finan- 
cial affairs of the state. He examines and adjusts accounts 
and claims against the commonwealth. When money is to 
be expended the auditor draws a warrant on the treasurer. 
His books and those of the treasurer are kept entirely sepa- 
rate, but must agree as to the amount of money on hand in 
the treasury. In this way mistakes in the state's finances can 
be avoided or any shortage discovered. The state auditor is 
elected for a term of four years, at a salary of ^2000 per year. 

116. The Attorney-General. It is the duty of the attorney- 
general to act for the state in all lawsuits where the state is 
a party. He prosecutes certain criminal cases where county 
attorneys fail to act, and also when necessary brings suit to col- 
lect all moneys due the state. He enforces the law, especially 
against corporations and wealthy individuals too powerful to 
be successfully resisted by county attorneys. It is the duty of 
the attorney-general to render opinions on questions of law sub- 
mitted to him by the governor and other state officers. He is 
elected for a term of four years, at a salary of ^4000 per year. 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 63 

117. Superintendent of Public Instruction. The entire 
public-school system of the state is under the general super- 
vision of the superintendent of public instruction. He is the 
chairman of the state board of education and other numerous 
boards that have to do with the public schools of the state. 
Uniform teachers' examinations are prepared under his super- 
vision, and the general educational interests of the state are 
promoted. He is elected for a term of four years, at a salary 
of ^2500 per year. 

118. State Treasurer. The state treasurer has the care of 
all the moneys of the state. He pays out the same on war- 
rants that are signed by the auditor. The state treasurer col- 
lects no money directly from the taxpayer, but receives the 
state tax money from each county treasurer as the latter col- 
lects it. An accurate account of all moneys expended by the 
state is kept by the treasurer as well as by the auditor. He is 
elected for a term of four years, at a salary of ^3000 per year. 

119. State Examiner and Inspector. The constitution pro- 
vides that, without giving any warning, the state examiner and 
inspector shall twice each year take complete possession of 
the state treasurer's office, and of every county treasurer's 
office, and make a thorough examination of the books, ac- 
counts, and cash in hand. Once each year he is to publish in 
his report the condition of every such treasury. He is also 
to provide a uniform system of bookkeeping for the use of 
all treasurers ; and other duties may be assigned him by law. 
The state examiner must have had at least three years' expe- 
rience as an expert accountant (Art. VI, sect. 19). He is 
elected for a term of four years, at a salary of ^3000 per year. 

120. Commissioner of Labor. The department of labor is 
under control of the labor commissioner. The legislature 



64 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

must create a board of arbitration and conciliation in the 
labor department, and the commissioner of labor shall be ex- 
officio chairman (Art. VI, sect, 21). He is elected for a term 
of four years, at a salary of $2000 per year. 

121. Insurance Commissioner. The insurance department 
is under the supervision of an insurance commissioner. He 
is charged with the execution of all laws in relation to insur- 
ance and insurance companies doing business in the state. 
The insurance commissioner must be at least twenty-five years 
of age and well versed in insurance matters. He is elected for 
a term of four years, at a salary of ^2500 per year. 

122. The Chief Mine Inspector. All mineral, oil, and gas 
interests in the state of Oklahoma are under the supervision 
of the chief mine inspector. No person shall be elected to said 
office unless he shall have had eight years' actual experience as 
a practical miner, and such other qualifications as shall be pre- 
scribed by the legislature. The constitution also provides that 
the legislature shall create mining districts and provide for 
the appointment or election of assistant inspectors therein, 
who shall be under the general control of the chief mine 
inspector (Art. VI, sect. 25). He is elected for a term of 
four years, at a salary of ^3000 per year. 

123. Commissioners of Charities. A commissioner of 
charities and corrections may be of either sex, and shall be 
twenty-five years of age or over ; in all other respects said 
officer shall have the qualifications which shall be required 
of the governor (Art. VI, sect. 25). This is the only state 
office that can be held by a woman. The commissioner of 
charities must make a report once each year (October i), 
and at any time, on the request of the governor, regarding 
all the public charities and corrections with which the 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 65 

commissioner has to do. A peculiar section of the constitution 
(Art. VI, sect. 30) gives the legislature power to alter, amend, 
or add to the duties of, or grant additional authority to, such 
commissioner. Here is an instance where the legislature can 
change the constitution without the matter being referred to 
the people. The commissioner is elected for a term of four 
years, at a salary of ^1500 per year. 

124. State Printer. It is the duty of the state printer to 
superintend, supervise, and contract for all public printing 
and binding required by the legislature, the governor, supreme 
court, state officers, or any state board or commission created 
under the laws of the state. He also contracts for all bound 
books and records required by the district courts, counties, 
and townships of the state. This office was created by the 
first legislature. The state printer is under the authority of 
the state printing board, composed of the governor, state 
treasurer, and state auditor. The term of the state printer is 
for four years, at a salary not to exceed $2500 per year. 

125. Text-Book Commission. The text-book commission 
consists of seven members, six of whom are appointed by the 
governor and confirmed by the senate. The seventh member 
is the governor himself. The appointed members serve for 
five years unless sooner removed. It is the duty of this com- 
mission to contract with publishers and authors for all books, 
registers, records, charts, maps, globes, and other apparatus 
to be used in the common schools of the state. The object 
of this commission is to obtain satisfactory, uniform text- 
books for the entire state at the lowest possible price. At 
an appointed time the commission receives sealed bids for 
all texts, records, apparatus, etc. (see chap, xii, § 200). It is 
made a misdemeanor to use other text-books than those 



66 . OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

adopted, and it is a like offense for any one to charge more 
than the contract price for them. The salary of the members 
of this commission is six dollars per day while on duty, and 
actual traveling expenses in going to and from the place of 
meeting. 

126. Corporation Commissioners. There are three corpora- 
tion commissioners. This board has extensive authority over 
semipublic corporations. Its duties are so numerous and its 
powers so far reaching that one of the longest and most de- 
tailed articles of the constitution (Art. IX) is given over to 
its functions. The salary of these officials is ^4000 per year, 
the term of office six years. One commissioner goes out every 
two years, so the commission is always able to transact busi- 
ness. The duties of this commission will be further developed 
in Chapter XIV. 

127. State Board of Agriculture. A nonpartisan board 
composed of eleven members, all of whom are farmers, con- 
stitute the state board of agriculture. The members of this 
board are chosen by delegates elected by the farmers at their 
county institutes. One delegate from each county institute 
attends the state institute, and these delegates elect ten 
members (two from each supreme court district) to serve on 
the state board of agriculture. The president of the board 
makes the eleventh member. His position is an elective 
office. This board is maintained as a part of the state gov- 
ernment, and has jurisdiction over all matters affecting animal 
industry and animal quarantine regulations, and is the board 
of regents of all state agricultural and mechanical colleges. 
The term of the president of state board of agriculture is four 
years, at a salary of $2500 per year. Other members of the 
board receive five dollars per day during actual time in session. 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 67 

128. Commissioners of Land Office. The governor, secre- 
tary of state, state auditor, superintendent of public instruc- 
tion, and the president of the board of agriculture shall 
constitute the commissioners of the land office, who shall 
have charge of the sale, rental, disposal, and managing of 
the school lands and other public lands of the state, and of 
the funds and proceeds derived therefrom, under rules and 
regulations prescribed by the legislature (Art. VI, sect. 32, 
chap. xii). 

129. The State Banking Board. The state banking board 
is composed of the governor, lieutenant governor, president 
of the board of agriculture, state treasurer, and state auditor. 
These gentlemen have general supervision of all state banks, 
pass upon a bank's qualification and fitness to become a state 
depository, and have general supervision of all the bank 
examiners. This board also has the management of the 
depositors gtcarantee fitnd. One per cent of all deposits in 
the state banks is levied and kept on interest by the state 
banking board. Thus a fund is created to pay off all deposi- 
tors in case a bank so guaranteed fails. Through this guar- 
antee fund depositors receive their money as soon as a bank 
fails. The state banking board then straightens up the affairs 
of the defunct bank, and, if possible, gets back out of funds 
due the bank the money which has been advanced to pay the 
depositors. This law is so popular in Oklahoma that one year 
after the passage of the measure no less than fifty national 
banks had surrendered their charters and become state banks. 

130. The State Board of Pardons. An administrative 
board, consisting of the state superintendent, the president 
of the board of agriculture, and the state auditor, constitutes 
the state board of pardons. It holds regular meetings the 



68 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

second Monday of each month, and more frequently if neces- 
sary. The governor can grant no pardon or parole except 
upon the recommendation of this board, but he can com- 
mute the death sentence to life imprisonment without its 
action. Before any public hearing for a pardon is held by 
the state board of pardons a legal notice announcing such 
a hearing must be published for two weeks in a weekly 
paper in the county where the crime was committed, so that 
those opposed to granting the pardon may be present, as 
well as those in its favor. Even after a pardon has been 
recommended by the board of pardons the governor can do 
as be chooses about granting it. 

131. Dispensary. For the enforcfement of prohibition a 
dispensary system has been adopted. A state agency is 
created under the supervision of a superintendent. This 
superintendent and all the agents under him are appointed 
by the governor, and they hold office at his pleasure. 

132. "State Board of Public Affairs.^ This board consists 
of three members, not more than two of whom can belong 
to the same political party. The members of this board are 
appointed by the governor '' for a term coterminous with 
that of the governor making the appointment." The gov- 
ernor is also given authority to remove any member of this 
board at his discretion. The board of public affairs has 
most extensive powers. It has charge of the construction, 
repair, maintenance, and insurance of all state buildings. 
It is a board of purchase for all state departments and 
state institutions. The members of the board are prohibited 
from engaging in any other business, and must each give a 

1 There are numerous other minor boards and commissions that assist 
in executing the law. 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 69 

fifty-thousand-dollar bond before entering upon their duties. 
The salary is ^3000 per year. 

133. Increase and Decrease of Salaries. All officials having 
to do with the expenditure of state funds are required to give 
bonds for the faithful performance of their duty. An account 
shall be kept by such officers and commissioners of all moneys 
disbursed or otherwise disposed of severally by them, from 
all sources, and for every service performed ; and a report 
thereof is made semiannually or as often as may be required 
by law, to the governor under oath. The governor may at 
any time require information in writing, under oath, from 
all officers and commissioners of the state, and all officers of 
state institutions, penal, eleemosynary, educational, and indus- 
trial, on any subject relating to their respective offices and 
institutions ; which information when so required shall be 
furnished by such officers and managers ; and any officer or 
manager who at any time shall make a false report shall 
be punished as by law provided. Each state officer shall, at 
stated times, during his continuance in office, receive for his 
services a compensation, which shall be neither increased nor 
diminished during the term for which he shall have been 
elected ; nor shall he receive to his use any fees, costs, or 
perquisites of office or other compensation. 

134. Nepotism Prohibited. Nepotism is appointing one's 
relatives to office. This is now prohibited in Oklahoma. The 
law makes it unlawful for any executive, legislative, ministerial, 
or judicial officer of this state to appoint or vote for the ap- 
pointment of any person related to him by affinity or con- 
sanguinity within the third degree, to any clerkship, office, 
position, employment, or duty in any department of the 
state, district, county, city, or municipal government. The 



70 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

law applies alike to relationship by marriage as by blood. 
And it is further made unlawful for officials to appoint one 
another's relatives to office and thus circumvent the law. This 
act extends to all school boards and regents of state institu- 
tions: No teacher can be elected by a board of education if 
he is related by blood or marriage to any member of that 
board. It is provided that any official guilty of appointing a 
relative to office shall be punished by a fine of not less than 
one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, and shall 
forfeit his office. • 



CHAPTER IX 

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT 

135. The Judicial Power. The judicial power of the state 
is vested in the senate, sitting as a court of impeachment, a 
supreme court, criminal court of appeals, district courts, 
superior courts (chap, iii, § 48), county courts (chap, iii, § 49), 
courts of justice of the peace (chap, i, § 9), municipal courts 
(chap, ii, § 24), and such other courts, commissions, or boards, 
inferior to the supreme court, as may be established by law 
(Art. VII, sect, i ; also Boynton, p. 279). 

136. Impeachment. A trial for misconduct in office is 
termed impeachment (Boynton, pp. 148-151). The con- 
stitution provides that the governor and other elective state 
officers, including the justices of the supreme court, shall be 
liable and subject to impeachment for willful neglect of duty, 
corruption in office, habitual drunkenness, incompetency, or 
any offense involving moral turpitude committed while in 
office (Art. VIII, sect. i). The house of representatives 
presents all impeachments by a majority vote. This method 
is similar to that of the grand jury presenting an indictment. 
The senate then tries the case, exercising functions similar 
to a petit jur)-. A two-thirds vote is necessary for conviction. 
When the senate is sitting as a court of impeachment the 
senators shall be on oath, or affirmation, impartially to try 
the party impeached ; and no person shall be convicted with- 
out the concurrence of two thirds of the senators present (Art. 
VIII, sect. 4). 

71 



72 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

137. Removal of Officials not Subject to Impeachment. 

All elective officials are subject to removal from office for 
just cause. This is done by the chief justice ; or, if he is 
absent or disqualified, then one of the associate justices of 
the supreme court, to be selected from it, acts in his stead. 
When a supreme court justice is impeached he is tried by 
the senate. Members of the house of representatives and of 
the senate cannot be impeached. The only way they can lose 
their office is to be expelled by the house of which they are 
a member, and each house is sole judge of the qualifications 
of its members. J?idgment of impeachment shall not extend 
beyond removal from office, but this shall not prevent pun- 
ishment of any such officer on charges growing out of the 
same matter by the courts of the state (Art. VIII, sect. 5). 

138. Supreme Court. The supreme court (Boynton, p. 280) 
consists of five judges nominated from districts but voted upon 
by the people at large. The term is six years. The salary of 
supreme court justices is ^4000 per year. Each supreme 
court judge is in turn chief justice for one year during his 
term of office. 

139. Jurisdiction. The supreme court has both original 
and appellate jurisdiction. Original jurisdiction means that 
the case can be started before it. The original jurisdiction of 
the supreme court shall extend to a general superintending 
control over all inferior courts and all commissions and boards 
created by law. The supreme court has power to issue writs 
of habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto, prohibition, and 
such other remedial writs as may be provided by law (Art. VII, 
sect. 2). But the supreme court rather discourages hearing 
cases in the first instance, and so most of its work comes 
under its appellate jurisdiction, If either party to a suit in the 



JUDICIAL. DEPARTMENT 73 

district, superior, or county court is dissatisfied, he can appeal. 
This is done by sending a transcript or an account of all that 
happened in the lower court up to the supreme court. This 
transcript is carefully read by all the judges, to see whether 
the trial court decided according to law and evidence. If the 
decision was right, it is sustained by the supreme court ; if it 
was not, it is reversed and sent back to be tried over again. 

140. Supreme Court Clerk. This is an elective office under 
the constitution. The duty of the clerk is to keep the records 
of the supreme court and of the criminal court of appeals. 
Such decisions have the authority of law, and are followed 
by all lower courts in the state in rendering opinions, unless 
said opinion has been altered by a more recent statute or 
constitutional enactment. He also serves as clerk of the 
criminal court of appeals. His term is four years and he is 
paid by fees. There is also a state reporter, whose duty is 
to arrange and supervise the printing of all decisions of the 
supreme court and the criminal court of appeals. He is 
elected by the eight judges who constitute these two courts. 
His term of office is at the pleasure of these courts. His 
salary is $2000 per year. 

141. Supreme Court Marshal. The marshal is the execu- 
tive officer of the supreme court and of the criminal court of 
appeals. He keeps order in the court room and serves all 
writs for the judges. If necessary, he can call on the citizens 
to assist him in enforcing a court order. He is chosen for a 
term of four years, at a salary of $1 500 per year. 

142. Criminal Court of Appeals. The criminal court of 
appeals was organized because of the congested condition of 
the supreme court docket. It consists of three judges ap- 
pointed by the governor. They 'hold office until January, 



74 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

191 1, at which time judges to succeed them will have been 
elected. The term of office is six years,, but in order that the 
term of only one judge will expire every two years, the first 
judges elected will cast lots to decide which one of them will 
serve two, four, and six years respectively. The salary is 
^4000 per year. 

143. Jurisdiction of Criminal Court of Appeals. The crimi- 
nal court of appeals has exclusive appellate jurisdiction in all 
criminal cases appealed from county, superior, or district 
courts. 

144. District Court. Because of its great authority and 
direct contact with the people, the district court is the most 
important instrument of government in the state. The dis- 
trict judge may at any time have to pass judgment upon any 
person in his district, taking from that person property, lib- 
erty, or even life. It is therefore extremely important that 
the highest type of citizen, one versed in the law, be elected 
to this office. 

145. District Judge : Salary and Qualifications. Recog- 
nizing the importance of this office, the framers of the con- 
stitution sought to so make our fundamental law that only 
men of high character and attainment would be chosen. This 
was done by making the salary ($3000) large enough to at- 
tract men of ability, and by making the qualifications such 
that only competent lawyers could meet them. The district 
judge must be a citizen of the United States, must have re- 
sided in the state for two years, and in the territory com- 
prising his district at least one year prior to his election ; 
and he must be a lawyer licensed by some court of record. 
Residence in his district during his term of office is required 
(Art. VII, sect. 9). His term is four years. 



JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT 75 

146. Jurisdiction of District Court. The district courts 
have original jurisdiction in all cases, civil and criminal, ex- 
cept where exclusive jurisdiction is, by the constitution or by- 
law, conferred on some other court, and they have such ap- 
pellate jurisdiction as may be provided in the constitution or 
by law. The district courts, or any judge thereof, have power 
■to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, injunctions, quo 
warranto, certiorari, prohibition, ^ and other writs, remedial or 
otherwise, necessai^y or proper to carry into effect their orders, 
judgments, or decrees. The district courts also have the power 
of naturalization in accordance with the laws of the United 
States (Art. VII, sect. 10) (Boynton, pp. 138-139). Appeals 
may be taken from the decision of a justice or a municipal 
court to the district court. The district court is a court of 
record ; appeals are taken from it direct to one of the supreme 
courts. So it will be seen that if a suit is begun in a municipal 
court, two trials can be had, one in the lower court and one in 
the district court. If, however, a case is begun in the district 
court, but one trial is held. When an appeal is taken to the 
supreme court or criminal court of appeals, the case is not 
tried again. The supreme judges merely review the record 
sent up from the district court. There may be an error, in 
which case a new trial is ordered, which will be held in the 
same court where the error was made. Sometimes one takes 
change of venue to avoid the prejudice of a judge or a com- 
munity. If the trial judge thinks there is sufficient reason, he 
may let the case be taken into another district where a judge 
and the people are less acquainted with the facts in the case. 
This expedient is often resorted to in case of homicide. But 
it is in a district court that final trial- of the case is held. 

1 The instructor should explain clearly the meaning of each of these 
writs (see next section). 



76 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

147. Law distinguished from Equity. The paragraph 
just above, relating to civil and criminal cases, has chiefly to do 
with that branch of jurisprudence that is technically termed 
"law." It sprang up from the old English common law. 
Generally a jury of twelve men decides the facts, and the 
duty of the judge is to see that the law is strictly • adhered 
to in presenting the evidence to the jury, so that no unfair 
or illegal advantage is taken of either party in the case. We 
have seen that (chap, i, § i) custom-made law is the much 
larger body of our jurisprudence. Sometimes custom is en- 
acted into statute law by the legislature, i.e. written down 
and defined. ''Equity," or chancery as it is sometimes called, 
grew up through the church courts of the early English. It 
was found that there were some cases where damages were 
no remedy. But damages is the only civil remedy at law, 
so chancery courts stepped in and enforced specific decrees. 
Thus, suppose that a man meant to turn a river across your 
land ; no damages would compensate you for the loss of your 
home if you did not want to move. Here you would bring a 
suit in chancery, and the judge would enjoin the man from 
persisting in his efforts to change the natural course of 'the 
river. Injunction, therefore, is to stop one from committing 
an injury to some one else. Mandamus, another remedy m 
equity, is to compel men to do that which they ought to do. 
Thus, suppose a writ is placed in the possession of the sheriff 
and he refuses to serve it ; under the law it is his duty to do 
so, and the remedy for his misconduct is for the injured party 
to obtain a writ of mandamus from the court, compelling him 
to perform his duty and serve the writ. 

148. District Courts : Equity Jurisdiction in Oklahoma. 
It is, as a rule, the extent of equity jurisdiction that marks 



JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT -j^ 

the difference between a superior and an inferior court. We 
noticed under the discussion of the twenty-fifth section of 
the bill of rights how our basic law limits the authority of an 
Oklahoma court to punish for contempt (chap, v, § 69). If the 
alleged contempt occurs out of the presence of the court, there 
must be a trial by jury to determine whether or not the con- 
tempt has been committed. In other respects the equity 
powers of an Oklahoma district court are as extensive as those 
of any similar state court, and therefore this court exercises 
the highest authority and is a tribunal of the highest dignity. 
149. Verdict. The decision arrived at by a jury is termed 
"a verdict" (Boynton, p. 364), In most cases the verdict 
assesses money damages against the party at fault. In crimi- 
nal cases the judgment may be either a fine, that is, the con- 
victed person must pay a sum of money ; imprisonment, 
that is, his liberty is taken from him ; death, that is, his 
life is taken, because, it is reasoned, if he continue to live 
he will be a menace to society. The jury brings in the ver- 
dict of guilty or not guilty in criminal cases in accordance 
with the instructions of the judge (chap, v, § 68). In civil 
cases the verdict states the amount of damages. The judge 
then renders judgment in accordance with the law. Fre- 
quently in criminal cases the judgment is both a fine and 
imprisonment. 



CHAPTER X 
ELECTORS AND ELECTIONS i 

150. Suffrage. Qualified electors are male citizens of the 
United States twenty-one years of age, who have resided in 
the state of Oklahoma one year, in the county six months, 
and in the election precinct thirty days next preceding the 
election at which the elector offers to vote (Boynton, p. 99, 
p. 270). No person adjudged guilty of a felony after the 
adoption of the constitution, subject to such exceptions as 
the legislature may prescribe, unless his citizenship shall have 
been restored in the manner provided by law ; nor any person, 
while kept in a poorhouse or other asylum at the public 
expense, except federal and confederate ex-soldiers ; nor any 
person in a public prison, nor any idiot or lunatic, shall be 
entitled to vote at any election under the laws of this state 
(Art. Ill, sect. i). 

151. Soldiers and the Suffrage. A soldier who enlists from 
Oklahoma can always vote in the town he enlisted from, so 
long as he is in the army. But a soldier who is stationed 
in Oklahoma does not become a resident of the state because 
he happens to be quartered here. His being a soldier in Okla- 
homa does not make him a citizen of the state. 

1 The legislature of 1909 passed an election law radically altering the 
provisions as given in this chapter. The new measure has met energetic 
opposition, and a referendum has been demanded upon it (see chap, vii, 
§§ loi, 102). The election upon this referendum may not be held until 
November, 1910, and at that time the new law may be defeated, so the 
statute as given here remains in full force and effect until disposed of by 
the people. (See Appendix C for discussi(5n of this suspended law.) 

78 



ELECTORS AND ELECTIONS 79 

152. Time of Elections. General elections (Boynton, pp. 
270-271) for the purpose of electing congressmen, state, 
legislative, and county officers, occur on the first Tuesday 
after the first Monday of the even-numbered years. Municipal 
elections occur yearly on the first Tuesday in April. Special 
elections may be called at any time by the governor to fill 
vacancies in the legislature or to take a referendum vote. 

153. Elections and Electors not to be interfered with. 
The election shall be free and equal. No power, civil or 
militar)^, shall interfere to prevent the free exercise of the 
right of suffrage, and electors shall, in all cases except for 
treason and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest 
during their attendance on elections and while going to and 
from the same (Art. Ill, sect. 7). 

154. Election Precincts. The county election board divides 
the townships into voting precincts, establishes the boundaries 
of the same, and designates at least one voting place in each 
township and city ward. There shall be but one voting place 
in each precinct. Each precinct should contain about two 
hundred voters, and in no case should the number exceed 
two hundred and fifty. Voting places are designated by the 
county election board. 

155. State Election Board. The governor, within thirty 
days after his inauguration, shall name a state election board, 
subject to the approval and confirmation of the senate. This 
board consists of three members, not more than two of whom 
shall be of the same political party. The state central com- 
mittees of the political parties casting the highest number of 
votes at the last general election each suggest the names of 
five electors, and the governor must appoint the members of 
the election board from this list. The salary of the members 



8o OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

of the state election board is three dollars per day for time 
actually engaged in the duties of the office. The term is for 
four years. 

156. Duties of State Election Board. The state election 
board has general supervision of all elections in the state, 
both primary and general. It appoints the county election 
boards, prepares the ballot for both the primary and the 
general election, decides who have been properly nominated 
for office, and canvasses the returns for all state elections 
and for district elections where the district is not a sub- 
division of a county. It also issues certificates of election to 
the various successful candidates who come within its juris- 
diction. 

157. County Election Board. This board consists of three 
members appointed by the state election board. The county 
central committees of the two largest political parties each 
submit five names to the state board, just as the state central 
committees of the parties submit names to the governor. 
The county election board must be appointed from these lists. 
Not more than two of the three members can come from 
the same political party. This board supervises the election 
in the county, just as the state board does in the state. It 
canvasses the returns from the county and issues certificates 
of election to the successful county candidates. 

158. Precinct Election Board. From lists of five, just as 
in the case of the state and county boards, the precinct 
election board is chosen by the county board. This board 
actually conducts the balloting. One of these three officials 
is termed inspector, another judge, and the third clerk. If 
any one of these three officials is disqualified or fails to 
qualify on the precinct boards, his colleagues shall appoint 



ELECTORS AND ELECTIONS 8 1 

his successor from the ranks of the party to which he be- 
longed, and, if possible, from the list previously submitted. 
This board issues certificates of nomination for precinct 
officers. 

159. Official Counters. On the Friday preceding the 
election it shall be the duty of the precinct election board 
to choose four official counters. They shall be equally dis- 
tributed among the political parties, and in no case shall, 
more than three counters come from one party. At ten 
o'clock on the morning of the election these counters, 
having first voted and taken the proper oath, shall begin to 
count. The count is to be kept secret until the entire poll 
is counted. Violation of this provision subjects them to 
severe fine and jail sentence. A careful record of all votes 
cast is kept and certified to the county election board ; and 
the vote on state officers and such district officers as come 
under the jurisdiction of the state board is in turn certified 
up to it. The ballots are hung on a string as counted. 
When all the votes are recorded these tickets are securely 
tied, sealed, and delivered to the county election board. 

160. The Ballot. In the general election the ballot is made 
up by the state and county boards on or before the first day 
of September preceding the November general election. 
These boards also make up the ballot for the primary. The 
copy for the ballot must be delivered to the printer by Octo- 
ber first. By the last week in October the state board must 
deliver the state ballots to the county boards, and the county 
boards must also have obtained the county tickets from the 
printer. All ballots for a general election must be on white 
paper and bound in books. Sample ballots are on cheap 
yellow paper. 



82 



OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 



NEVEE DETACH THIS NTIMBEE FROM THE STUB 'N? 6425 











Street Number 




■^^ 


Here. It Voter ww 


Sworn, Write 


Here. It BaUot is SpoUed or Not Votc.l WriU 



W 6425 



■WHEN TOTES BETtTBNS BALLOT DETACH THIS NDMBEB 



GBADY OOTWTY, WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP ,FA1E CEODNDS PEEOWOT. 



DEMOCEATIO 

o 


EEPUBLICAN 

o 


sociAusr 

O 


INDEPENDENCE PAETY 

o 


PEOPLES PASTY 

O 


For Presidential Electon 

a M. KUTHERTOBD 

GEO. L BOWMAN. 

B. AJIcDOnOAI. 
PRESTON a LESTER 
J. a GIBBONS 


For Preadential Electon 

EMORT FOSTER 
ABEL J. SANDS 
E. O. CLARK 
BRUCE KENAN 
WlLUAMMcKOT 


For Presidential Electon 

I. N. JOHNSON 
1 JULIUS S. i^r.T.TO 

n-" 


For Presidential Electon 

a W. MATTUBBT 

C. G. TOUNO 

C. a ZIEQLAR 

J. W. WALLACE, Jr. 

K C. BURKHART 

U. K. AKIN 


For Presidential Electon 

1 pORACB E. STRAUaHEM 

J"™ 

E. M. SMOOT 
1 JESSE L. BWANGO 

1 L P. BARKER 


Second District 

(vow Br on. 1. tM. dUMrt.) 
1 1 R. I. WILLIAMS 


For Jnrtice of Supreme Court 
Second District 


For Justice of Supreme Court 
Second District 


For Justice of Snpreme Court 
Second District 


For Justice of Supreme Court 
Second D^ct^^^ 


For Justice ot Snpreme Court 
Fonrth District 

r^, ,or on. to U^ <imrtct.> 
1 SAMUEL W. HATES 


For Justice of Snpreme Court 
Fonrth Disirict 

JOSEPH T. DICKERSON 


For Justice of Snpreme Court 
Fourth District 


For Justice of Snpreme Court 
Fourth District. 


For Justice of Supreme Court 
Fourth District 


For Corporation Conunissioncr 

n-— 


1 1 WILLIAM H. RETNOLDS 


For Corporation Commissionei 

1 1 ROT O'BRTAN 


For Corporation Commissioner 


For Corporation Commissioner 


For Congressman 6tli District 

n— "»" 


For Congressman Bth District 


For Congressman 6tb District 

n— 


Por Congressman 6th District 


Por Congressmaa 6th District 


For Stote Senator 

1 I GEO. 0. JOHNSON 


For StsU amaw 


For State Senator 

□ „._ 


For State Senator 


For SUte Senator 


For Bepresentatire 

I 1 R. L GLOVER 


For EeprescnUtivo 
M. s. m<k:obb 


For EepresentatiTo 


<»«""" <"»•) 


For Eepresentativs 


For notorial Eeprejentative 

n 


For Pictorial Eepresentatiye 

n 


For Flotorial Eepresentativc 

n 


For Flotorial EeprcscntaUve 

n 


n 



K®" To vote the Democratic Ticket, stamp X in circle under the Booster. 

"J®" To vote the Republican Ticket, stamp X in circle under the Eagle. The same 

■wording as to other Parties. 
I®- Should a voter desire to vote a mixed ticket, stamp in circle under devise of 

the party, then cross over in columns containing other names and stamp 

X in the square opposite name of candidate you desire to vote for. 
c@~ After you have voted, fold ballot over to perforated line and return to election 

offtcers. 



ELECTORS AND ELECTIONS S^ 

161. Ballot Stub. Each ballot has a stub. On this stub is 
left a blank for the voter's name, post office, street number, 
a place to write ''challenged" if he is challenged, to write 
" sworn " if he is sworn, and another blank to write " spoiled " 
if the ballot is mutilated. In the upper left-hand corner of 
the ballot there is a number corresponding to the number on 
the stub. If a voter is challenged, this number serves to 
identify the identical ballot cast by the person whose vote 
was questioned. If it is found he voted illegally, his vote 
can be cast out and the person himself punished. 

162. Registration. In cities of the first class the election 
inspector for each precinct must keep open the precinct 
registration books during the entire month of July. He shall 
also keep his books open for registration during the last 
week in October. For this he receives a fee of three cents 
for each name registered. This is paid by the city. All 
electors must register here if they wish to vote, unless pre- 
vented by some unavoidable circumstance, such as sickness 
or absence from the city. The object of registration is to 
get the list of all men claiming to be qualified electors in 
the city. It is more difficult in congested centers of popula- 
tion to detect fraud at elections, and registration aids in 
ferreting out the men who mean to vote illegally. Men can 
be punished for fraudulent registration, the same as for 
fraudulent voting. 

163. Political Parties Recognized. In no particular does 
the national constitution vary more greatly from what its 
framers intended than in the election of President (Boynton, 
pp. 183-184). The people choose members of an electoral 
college, as many from each state as the commonwealth has 
senators and representatives. These men do the actual voting 



84 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

for President. The Fathers intended that the presidential 
electors constituting the electoral college should vote for the 
men they thought best fitted for President and vice presi- 
dent, independent of party ; but since the time of Jefferson 
(Boynton, pp. 309-325) political parties have stepped in and 
selected the men to be voted for. Since political parties do 
exist, and since the choice for all officials is limited to the 
few men these parties pick out, the builders of the Oklahoma 
constitution decided to regulate the manner in which political 
parties shall choose their candidates. This is done at what is 
termed a primary election. 

164. Mandatory Primary. ''The legislature shall enact 
laws providing for a mandatory primary system, which shall 
provide for the nomination of all candidates in all elections 
for state, district, county, and municipal officers, for all politi- 
cal parties, including United States senators : provided, how- 
ever, this provision shall not exclude the right of the people 
to place on the ballot by petition any nonpartisan candidate " 
(Art. Ill, sect. 5). A mandatory primary election law was 
enacted by the first legislature in accordance with this consti- 
tutional provision. All candidates of political parties must be 
chosen at a primary which is held the first Tuesday in August 
of every even-numbered year. The officers provided by the 
general election law also have control of the primary. The 
voting places are the same, and the ballot is as nearly as pos- 
sible like that used at the general election. However, only 
candidates of one party appear on one ticket, and the tickets 
of the respective parties must be of different colors. The 
July registration in cities of the first class is for the benefit of 
the primary. The entire expense of this election is borne by 
the state and local governments, just as is the case in a 



ELECTORS AND ELECTIONS 85 

general election. The officers voted for include every one 
who represents the people, from precinct committeemen and 
delegates to the state convention where the party platform is 
now made, up to the highest office in the gift of the people. 

165. Nominating Petitions. In order that a candidate may 
have his name upon a primary ballot, he must present a petition 
to the proper election board. Any candidate for an office 
where the electors of the entire state shall vote, or a candidate 
for the legislature, or in any district larger than a county, 
must present his petition to the secretary of the state election 
board. A candidate in a county or a division smaller than a 
county files his petition with the secretary of the county elec- 
tion board. Candidates for the United States senate ^ are voted 
for at the primary the same as other candidates. 

166. Primary Election and Ballot. The election is con- 
ducted exactly like a general election, only instead of having 
the names of all candidates on one ticket, separate ballots are 
printed for each party, and a voter on entering the election 
booth announces his party and is given the proper ticket. 
The ballot is similar in form to the one presented earlier in 
this chapter, except that there is no party insignia upon it. 

167. Nonpartisan Nominations. If one belongs to no 
political party, he cannot vote, at the primary ; but non- 
partisan nominations can be made by exactly the same method 
used to petition names upon the primary ballot of the sev- 
eral political parties. These petitions are filed in the same 
way that party petitions are filed, and at the same time. 

1 United States senators are not elected by the people, nor is a political 
party bound to nominate a candidate in order to have his name considered 
at the time the legislature meets in joint session. But such a vote is re- 
garded as instructing the legislators as to what the people desire, and the 
legislature is apt to follow the express will of the people. 



86 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

168. How to Vote. At the primary one must stamp in the 
square to the left of the names of the men for v/hom he de- 
sires to vote. At the regular election, to vote a straight ticket, 
stamp in the circle beneath the device (Boynton, p. 271). To 
vote a mixed ticket, stamp in the square to the left of the 
name of each candidate for whom it is desired to vote. Or if 
one stamps in the circle beneath the device and then crosses 
over and votes for certain candidates in other columns, his 
vote will be counted for the candidates beneath the device, 
except where he has indicated a preference for some other 
candidate. 

169. Corrupt Practice at Elections. Since primary elec- 
tions are now as much under sanction of law as are the 
general elections, it has been deemed necessary to provide 
penalties for violations of its provisions even more stringent 
than for the general election. Corporations are especially 
forbidden in any way to participate in elections. It is a peni- 
tentiary offense to bribe a voter. Election officers are like- 
wise severely punished for failing to do their duty ; and any 
one who brings intoxicating liquors of any kind within one 
half mile of a voting place is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

170. Limitation on Amount of Money to be Spent. There 
seems to be no limit placed upon the amount a candidate 
may spend to secure his election after he is nominated, but 
he is strictly limited as to what he can spend in order to se- 
cure a nomination. The amount^ is in proportion to the 

1 Candidates for United States senator or governor are not to spend an 
amount exceeding $3000 ; other state offices, $1500 ; supreme judge, $1000 ; 
Congress, $800; district judge, ^500; state senator, ^250; representatives 
in a district larger than a county, I250; county candidates, $200; sub- 
division of county, $50; mayor (cities over 15,000), $200; other city offi- 
cials (cities over 15,000), $150; mayor (cities less than 15,000), $100 ; other 
officials (cities less than 15,000), ^50. 



ELECTORS AND ELECTIONS Sy 

relative importance of the office. The law aims to prevent rich 
men, by a lavish use of money, from obtaining nominations. 
It also seeks to make it possible for a person of limited means 
to aspire to the highest office in the gift of the people. If 
a candidate violates this provision, he not only forfeits his 
right to have his name printed on the primary ballot, but is 
also guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall pay a 
fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two 
thousand dollars, and suffer a jail sentence as well. And even 
if a person is elected to an office, and it is found that he has 
violated the corrupt-practice features of the state election laws, 
he shall not be entitled to hold such office. Newspapers are 
compelled to announce political advertising as such, so that 
the voter will not be deceived into believing that purchased 
space in the paper is the editorial opinion of the publisher. 
171. Publicity. Before the state and county election boards 
give out any certificates of nomination or election they must 
give out for publication a statement of each candidate's ex- 
penditures and all that was spent in his behalf by his several 
agents. Within ten days after a primary or general election, 
as the case may be, the campaign committees, both of indi- 
viduals and of parties, must file a complete list of all money 
which came into the hands of such committees. 



CHAPTER XI 
TAXATION AND PUBLIC DEBTS 

172. Taxation. Of all governmental functions taxation is 
the most important. Any student of American history must 
have noticed that the century-old struggle in England and 
America was directed chiefly against the king's attempt to 
levy taxes without the consent of those taxed. And to-day 
the most difficult problem statesmen have to meet is to equi- 
tably adjust the burdens of government upon each man ac- 
cording to the benefit he receives from the government, and 
according to his ability to help support it. In no respect has 
the constitution of Oklahoma gone further from the com- 
monly accepted custom in America than in the matter of 
taxation. The Oklahoma constitution was so written that 
those men who obtained the greatest financial benefit from 
the state and its system of laws should contribute most to 
the state's support. The power to tax can never be surren- 
dered, suspended, or contracted away, but must always remain 
a function of the state. 

173. Assessment. The township trustee is the assessor in 
rural communities (chap, i, § 6). Cities and towns elect an 
assessor each year (chap, ii, § 22). As soon as possible on 
or after the first Monday of March of each year it is the duty 
of the assessor to make a list of the property of each person 
residing within the township or city which he is to assess. 
All assessments must be completed and the assessment rolls 
turned over to the county clerk by the township and municipal 



TAXATION AND PUBLIC DEBTS 89 

assessors by the first Monday in May. All property is to be 
assessed to the person who owned it on the first of March, no 
matter if it has been sold after that time and before the asses- 
sor calls upon him. All property is listed in schedules and 
at actual cash value. The taxpayer must take oath that he 
''give in" all his property at its true value before his returns 
are received. The assessor who shall commit any willful error 
in the performance of his dut}^ shall be deemed guilty of mal- 
feasance, and upon conviction thereof shall forfeit his office 
and be otherwise punished as provided by law. The various 
boards of equalization are as follows : townships, the town- 
ship board ; towns, assessor, president of board of trustees, 
and town clerk ; cities, assessor, mayor, and city clerk ; coun- 
ties, board of county commissioners ; state, governor, state 
auditor, state treasurer, secretary of state, attorney-general, 
state examiner and inspector, president of the board of 
agriculture. 

174. Duties of Boards of Equalization. The duties of 
these boards are most important. On the third Monday in 
April the boards for the townships, towns, and cities meet 
to examine the assessment rolls of their respective localities. 
They hear all complaints of persons who feel aggrieved by 
their assessments, and correct, equalize, and adjust assess- 
ments by increasing or diminishing the amounts listed for 
any individual, when unjust. These boards may, if necessary, 
even require a reassessment of all property on the tax roll. 
On the first Monday in June the county board of equaliza- 
tion holds its sessions and equalizes the taxes of the respec- 
tive political divisions of the county. As these tax rolls are 
made by as many different men as there are townships, 
towns, and cities in the county, no two lists are apt to be 



go OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

made upon the same basis. Previous to making the assess- 
ment the assessors often hold a convention at the county 
seat and decide on a Ust by which to assess. Notwithstand- 
ing, there are bound to be discrepancies which need adjust- 
ment. What the county board of equahzation does for one 
county the state board does for the entire state. This state 
board meets on the third Monday in June. It is the duty of 
this board to examine the various county assessments, and to 
equahze, correct, and adjust the same as between the counties, 
by increasing the aggregate assessed value of the property, 
or any class of property, in any of the counties, so that it 
conforms to the fair cash value. It can order the assessment 
rolls of any county so corrected. The state board of equali- 
zation also assesses all public service corporations. 

175. Ad Valorem Tax. " Except as herein otherwise pro- 
vided, the total taxes on an ad valorem basis for all purposes — 
state, county, township, city, or town, and school-district taxes— 
shall not exceed in any one year thirty-one and one-half mills 
on the dollar, to be divided as follows : state levy, not more 
than three and one-half mills ; county levy, not more than 
eight mills, Piwided, That any county may levy not exceeding 
two mills additional for county high school and aid to the 
common schools of the county, not over one mill of which 
shall be for such high school, and the aid to said common 
schools shall be apportioned as provided by law ; township 
levy, not more than five mills ; city or town levy, not more 
than ten mills ; school-district levy, not more than five mills 
on the dollar for school-district purposes, for support of com- 
mon schools. Provided, That the aforesaid annual rate for 
school purposes may be increased by any school district to 
an amount not to exceed ten mills on the dollar valuation, on 



TAXATION AND PUBLIC DEBTS 91 

condition that a majority of the voters thereof voting at an 
election, vote for said increase " (Art. X, sect. 9). The assess- 
ment having been taken and an estimate made by the respec- 
tive township, town, city, county, and state officials of what it 
will cost to run their respective offices the next year, then 
the rate of taxation can be ascertained. It is determined by 
dividing, the estimated ^expense for the year by the assessed 
valuation. The tax roll is turned over to the county treasurer 
by the county clerk on or before October i ; on October 15 
the ad valorem tax becomes due. All such taxes must be 
paid by January i, or a penalty (i.e. extra charge) attaches. 

176. Exemptions. " All property used for free public libra- 
ries, free museums, public cemeteries, property used exclu- 
sively for schools, colleges, and all property used exclusively 
for religious and charitable purposes, and all property of the 
United States and of this state and of counties and of munici- 
palities of this state ; household goods of the heads of families, 
tools, implements, and live stock employed in the support of 
the family, not exceeding one hundred dollars in value, and 
all growing crops, shall be exempt from taxation. Provided, 
that all property not herein specified, now exempt from tax- 
ation under the laws of the territoiy of Oklahoma, shall be 
exempt from taxation until otherwise provided by law ; and 
provided further, that there shall be exempt from taxation, 
to all ex-Union and ex-Confederate soldiers bona fide residents 
of this state, and to all widows of ex-Union and ex-Confederate 
soldiers, who are heads of families and bona fide residents of 
this state, personal property not exceeding two hundred dol- 
lars in value. All property owned by the Murrow Indian 
Orphan Home, located in Coal County, and all property 
owned by the Whitaker Orphan Home, located in Mayes 



92 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

County, so long as the same shall be used exclusively as 
free homes or schools for orphan children, and for poor and 
indigent persons, and all fraternal orphan homes, and other 
orphan homes, together with all their charitable funds, shall 
be exempt from taxation ; and such property as may be ex- 
empt by reason of treaty stipulation existing between the 
Indians and the United States government, or by, federal 
laws during the force and effect of such treaties or federal 
laws. The legislature may authorize any incorporated city 
or town, by a majority vote of its electors voting thereon, to 
exempt manufacturing establishments and public utilities 
from municipal taxation for a period not exceeding five 
years, as an inducement to their location " (Art. X, sect. 6). 
This clause of the constitution is self-explanatory. This long 
list of exemptions (Boynton, p. 281) from taxation is placed 
in the constitution because it is felt that either such property 
is a necessity to citizens in earning a living, or such institu- 
tions are a public benefit, and that they should not be charged 
with the burdens of government. The active members of fire 
and militia companies are also exempt from paying poll tax. 
Cities and towns are often much benefited by factories being 
located within their boundaries. They are allowed to aid the 
factory during the first of its struggle by exempting it from 
taxation. 

177. Special Tax Provision. The legislature shall have 
power to provide for the levy and collection of license, 
franchise, gross revenue, excise, income, collateral and direct 
inheritance, legacy, and succession taxes ; also graduated in- 
come taxes, graduated collateral and direct inheritance taxes, 
graduated legacy and succession taxes ; also stamp, registra- 
tion, production, or other specific taxes (Art. X, sect. 12). The 



TAXATION AND PUBLIC DEBTS 93 

state may select its subjects of taxation, and levy and collect 
its revenues independent of the counties, cities, or other mu- 
nicipal subdivisions (Art. X, sect. 1 3). Under this provision of 
the constitution the state and its subdivisions are given an 
absolutely free hand in le\ying taxes so long as they are uni- 
form upon the same class of subjects. 

178. License and Franchise Taxes. Cities and towns may 
levy a license tax. In states where liquor is sold, the liquor 
license is of this character. The dog tax and drayman's license 
is also a license tax. A franchise tax is a demand that a 
semipublic corporation pay a portion of its receipts into the 
public treasury for the privileges granted. Street-car compa- 
nies, lighting and water companies are often subject to such 
charges. When articles of incorporation are filed a fee of 
one tenth of one per cent of the authorized capital stock is 
charged. This is a license tax that is charged but once, but 
it is frequently a tax of large proportions. A railroad com- 
pany that is incorporated for three million dollars must pay 
a license tax of three thousand before it can begin business 
in the state. The secretary of state collects so many fees and 
license taxes of this character that his office is one of the great 
revenue-gathering offices of the state. 

179. Income Tax. It is the duty of the assessor to furnish 
the state auditor a list of all persons whose income is in excess 
of ^3500, and upon which no gross receipt or excise tax has 
been paid. He shall also furnish a list of other persons in 
his township, who, in his opinion, may be liable for an income 
tax, and such persons can be compelled to make a statement 
under oath concerning their incomes. The tax all goes to the 
common-school fund, and is as follows : for the excess over 
$3500 and less than $5000, one half of one per cent; for 



94 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

the excess over ^5000 and less than ^10,000, three fourths 
of one per cent ; for the excess over ^10,000 and less than 
^20,000, one and one-fifth per cent ; for the excess over 
^20,000 and less than $50,000, two per cent ; for all amounts 
over $100,000, three and three-tenths per cent. If a person 
neglects or refuses to pay his income tax, it becomes a lien 
on his property, the same as ad valorem tax, and if a false 
affidavit is made in connection with the collection of an in- 
come tax, the person is guilty of perjury. There is also a 
graduated income tax on the rents and profits of large farms 
that are not owned, but are held under title less than fee. 
The tax is one per cent upon the rents and profits of said 
farms for the excess over one section. It increases to ten 
per cent upon the rents and profits of said farms where such 
holdings exceed five thousand acres. This law was especially 
designed to reach the large holdings on the Indian Territory 
side of the state. Often men will be in possession of vast 
estates in this section of the commonwealth, and yet the title 
to the land will rest in the government. 

180. Inheritance Tax. Property that passes by will or in- 
heritance — bequests, legacies, etc. — is taxed in proportion to 
the amount of property that passes and the relationship of the 
person benefited. The county judge supervises the collecting 
of this tax. It is paid to the county treasurers and by them 
turned over to the state treasury. One half the sum derived 
goes to the common-school fund ; the other half is applied 
to the expenses of the state government. Such a tax is 
levied by several states, and is becoming more and more a 
source of revenue for the support of state governments. 

181. Exemptions from Inheritance Tax. All property 
transferred to corporations of this state organized solely for 



TAXATION AND PUBLIC DEBTS 95 

religious, charitable, or educational purposes is exempt from 
this tax. Widows are allowed to inherit ten thousand dollars 
without being required to pay the tax, while children or parents 
of a deceased person can receive five thousand dollars' tax 
free. Other relatives can inherit in much smaller amounts 
without being obliged to pay the tax. 

182. Graduated Land Tax. This law provides that every 
person can own three hundred and twenty acres (a half sec- 
tion) of land without paying any tax upon it other than the 
regular ad valorem tax discussed in a previous section. Any 
one can own as much as six hundred and forty acres of land 
of average taxable value and still pay only the usual ad valorem 
tax. The law declares that twenty dollars per acre shall be 
regarded as the average value of Oklahoma lands. Thus, if 
one owns more than a section of average-value land, or, in 
other words, has more than ^12,800 invested in farm lands 
of greater acreage than half a section of average land, he 
pays one fourth of one per cent upon the excess ; ten per 
cent per annum is levied if one is possessed of over ten 
thousand acres. Thus it will be seen that the tax is really 
prohibitory on large bodies of land. One could not afford to 
hold them and pay the tax. This law will probably tend to 
increase the number of landowners, and this doubtless was 
the intention of the framers of the law. 

183. The Gross Revenue^ Tax. The first state legislature 
provided for the levy and collection of an extra tax upon all 
public-service corporations, and from all persons, firms, or 
corporations engaged in mining or in the production of oil or 
natural gas. Every company or person affected by this act 
must pay the state a gross revenue tax for the fiscal year 
ending June 30, 1909, and for each year thereafter. This 



96 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

is in addition to the ad valorem tax previously mentioned. 
Sleeping-car companies pay three per cent and railroads pay 
one per cent. Those engaged in the production of coal pay 
one per cent ; oil, gas, and other companies engaged in 
mining pay one half of one per cent of their gross produc- 
tion. If a firm or corporation fails or refuses to make a 
report to the state auditor's office of the amount of its gross 
revenue or production, the auditor is required to certify the 
name of the company to the district court, and the firm will 
be compelled to pay according to law. 

184. Poll Tax. Every male between the ages of twenty- 
one and fifty years is required to pay a poll tax of two dollars, 
and must be listed by the assessor. Active members of fire 
and militia companies are exempt from this tax (Art. X, 
sect. 1 8). 

185. Bonds. All laws authorizing the borrowing of money 
by and on behalf of the state, county, or other political sub- 
division of the state, shall specify the purpose for which the 
money is to be used, and the money so borrowed shall be 
used for no other purpose. A bond is an interest-bearing 
promissory note of the state, county, town, or district, agree- 
ing to pay a certain sum of money at a given time. No law 
creating a bonded indebtedness can take effect until it shall, 
at a general election, have been submitted to the people and 
have received a majority of all votes cast for and against it at 
such election (Art. X, sect. i6). No bond of indebtedness of 
this state shall be valid unless the same shall have indorsed 
thereon a certificate, signed by the auditor and attorney- 
general of the state, showing that the bond or evidence of 
debt is pursuant to law and is issued within the debt limit. 
No bond or evidence of debt of any county, or bond of any 



TAXATION AND PUBLIC DEBTS 97 

township or any other poUtical subdivision of any county, 
shall be valid unless the same have indorsed thereon a cer- 
tificate signed by the county clerk or other officer authorized 
by law to sign such certificate, and the county attorney, stat-, 
ing that said bond or evidence of debt is issued pursuant to law, 
and that said issue is within the debt limit (Art X, sect. 29). 

186. The Debt Limit. The state may, to meet casual 
deficit or failure in revenue, or for expenses not provided 
for, contract debts, but such debts shall not at any time 
exceed $400,000, and the moneys arising from the loans 
creating such debts shall be applied to the purpose for which 
they were obtained, or to repay the debts so contracted, and 
to no other purpose whatever (Art. X, sect. 23). 

187. War Debt not Limited. In addition to the above 
limited power to contract debts, the state may contract debts 
to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or to defend the 
state in war ; but the money arising from the contracting of 
such debts shall be applied to the purpose for which it was 
raised, or to repay such debts, and to no other purpose what- 
ever (Art. X, sect. 24). 

188. Sinking Fund. Counties, townships, school districts, 
cities, and towns shall levy sufficient additional revenue to 
create a sinking fund to be used (i) for the payment of 
interest coupons as they fall due ; (2) for the payment of 
bonds as they fall due ; (3) for the payment of such parts 
of judgments as such municipality may, by law, be required 
to pay (Art. X, sect. 28). It is also provided that the law 
shall provide for the collection of a direct annual tax sufficient 
to pay the interest on all bonded debts as it falls due, and 
also to pay and discharge the principal of such debts within 
twenty-five years from the time of the contracting thereof. 



98 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

189. Bonds not to be voted to aid Private Enterprise. 

The credit of the state shall not be given, pledged, or 
loaned, to pay any individual, company, or corporation, or 
association, municipality, or political subdivision of the state ; 
nor shall the state become an owner or stockholder in, or 
make donation by gift, subscription to stock, by tax, or 
otherwise, to any company, association, or corporation. The 
legislature shall not authorize any county, or subdivision 
thereof, — city, town, or incorporated district, — to become 
a stockholder in any company, association, or corporation, or 
to obtain or appropriate money for, or levy any tax fgr, or 
to loan its credit to, any corporation, association, or individual 
(Art. X, sect. 15). It has been a common practice in Okla- 
homa, as well as elsewhere in the Middle West, to vote bonds 
or city warrants to railroad companies as an inducement for 
them to build into the locality voting the bonds. This prac- 
tice is now absolutely prohibited by the constitution. 

190. Fiscal Year. The fiscal or business year of the state 
begins on the first day of July. All accounts are checked 
up to this date. Appropriations that have been made by the 
legislature but have not been entirely expended often revert 
back into the treasury at this time. 



CHAPTER XII 
PUBLIC-SCHOOL SYSTEM 

191. Public Schools and the Enabling Act. The fifth sec- 
tion of the enabhng act requires that provisions shall be made 
for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public 
schools conducted in English, open to all the children of the 
state j and free from sectarian control. It also provides that 
other languages may be taught in the public schools, and per- 
mits the establishment and maintenance of separate schools 
for white and colored children. The enabling act is higher 
law than the state's constitution, and therefore the state's 
school law had to be formulated in accordance with it. 

192. Free Public Schools. Section 5 of Article I of the 
state constitution repeats this section verbatim. Ever since the 
earliest organization of Oklahoma Territory a free public-school 
system was maintained. The white people of Indian Terri- 
tory did not have such good school advantages, although free 
public schools were maintained in the incorporated cities, 
and some free schools were supported by the federal govern- 
ment in rural sections. The Five Civilized Tribes had sup- 
ported public schools for Indian children for more than a 
generation. As the laws of Oklahoma Territory were extended 
over Indian Territory on the adoption of the constitution, the 
school law of the Oklahoma portion of the new common- 
wealth became the law for the entire state. 

193. Organization of Districts. The county superintend- 
ent can lay out a school district with such boundaries as he 

99 



lOO OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

sees fit. But such boundaries must be within reason. The 
district is said to be organized when its officers have been 
elected and quaHfied. No district shall be organized contain- 
ing less than eight persons of school age. As there were no 
counties and consequently no school districts in Indian Ter- 
ritory until after statehood, county superintendents in that 
section had to organize a vast territor}^ This was done, as a 
rule, by forming the largest possible districts compatible with 
efficiency. Thus the advantage of so-called consolidated or 
township schools has, in many cases, been obtained from the 
very first. 

194. District Officers. A director, clerk, and treasurer 
constitute the school board. Women as well as men are eligi- 
ble to serve on any school board. At the annual meeting in 
1 908 the director was elected for three years, the clerk for two 
years, the treasurer for one year. Their successors will be 
elected for three years. The director presides at all district 
meetings, and he signs all warrants drawn by the district 
clerk on the treasurer. The clerk keeps all the books belong- 
ing to the district. He must transmit to the county clerk, on or 
before May 25 of each year, a list of all persons in his district 
liable to pay taxes. He must promptly report to the county 
superintendent all school officers elected, the commencement 
of each term of school, and the amount of school tax levied at 
the annual meeting. The treasurer must give a bond in double 
the amount of school money he is apt to handle each year. 
He must keep a careful report of all moneys received and 
expended, and make a full report at the annual district meet- 
ing. He can pay out funds only on warrants properly signed. 
If warrants are not paid for want of funds, he records same 
in the warrant register. Such warrants draw six per cent 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL SYSTEM lOI 

interest until notice is given that funds are on hand to pay 
them. This notice being given, the interest stops after thirty 
days. Acting together these officers constitute the district 
school board, with duties that cannot be performed singly. 
Under instructions from a district meeting it can provide a 
schoolhouse and grounds. The board hires the teacher, pro- 
cures fuel and supplies, and has general supervision of all 
school property. With the sanction of the county superin- 
tendent, it can dismiss a teacher for incompetency, cruelty, 
negligence, or immorality. The law provides that at least 
twice each term one member of the board visit the school. 

195. Consolidated Districts. Experience has shown that 
the best results cannot be obtained in a one-room rural school, 
with one teacher to give instruction in all grades. Better re- 
sults are obtained by consolidating two or more districts and 
erecting a suitable building at a central point. Teachers are 
then selected who are especially equipped for the work of the 
different grades, and better equipment is afforded. Such con- 
solidated schools are to be found in most of the states of the 
Middle West, Oklahoma included. The law provides that a 
majority of those voting in each district must favor the prop- 
osition in order to consolidate. In case pupils live more than 
two miles from the schoolhouse, the district is compelled to 
transport them ; but it has been shown that this extra expense 
can be assumed by the enlarged district, and yet there will be 
no increase of school taxes, since it has been found cheaper 
and better to maintain one large school at a central point than 
three or four little inefficient schools at different points. 

196. Annual Meeting : Voters. The annual school meet- 
ing is held the first Tuesday in June, at two o'clock in the 
afternoon. At this meeting the voters elect the district officer 



I02 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

whose term expires. A tax for the support of the school, 
not to exceed two per cent, is levied ; and the length of 
term is decided upon, which must not be less than three 
months. A ballot box is seldom provided. Matters are gen- 
erally discussed in open meeting and then voted upon by viva 
voce vote. Often all matters pertaining to school-board ac- 
tivities are discussed and decided. All persons, male or 
female, twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United 
States, or who have declared their intention to become such, 
who have resided in the state one year, in the township sixty 
days, and in the district thirty days, previous to the time of 
election, are qualified voters at a school election. 

197. School Districts in Towns. The school board in the 
incorporated town is exactly the same as in the rural dis- 
tricts. Frequently adjoining rural territory is added to a 
town or city district, thus affording the country children liv- 
ing in the vicinity of a town or city the advantage of a much 
better equipped and more highly organized school. 

198. Schools in Cities of the First Class. Every city of 
the first class is an independent school district. Contiguous 
rural territory is sometimes added to it. Each ward elects 
two members on the board. This board has general control 
of the schools of the city. It elects teachers and also a super- 
intendent, neither of whom is under the supervision of the 
county superintendent. At the annual meeting, the first 
Monday in May, the board organizes by the selection of a 
president, vice president, and a clerk. The treasurer is elected 
by the people at the same time the board is chosen. The 
clerk gives a bond of one thousand dollars ; the bond of the 
treasurer is prescribed by the board. The course of study in 
cities and towns is much more elaborate than in rural schools. 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL SYSTEM I03 

Cities of the first class maintain efficient instructors in the 
first eight grades, and generally have well-organized high 
schools. Special instructors in drawing and music and other 
branches are frequently provided. The constitution requires 
that the legislature shall provide for the teaching of the ele- 
ments of agriculture, horticulture, stock feeding, and domestic 
science in the common schools of the state (Art. XIII, sect. 7). 

199. Initiative and Referendum in School Districts. The 
rural school district in Oklahoma is almost a pure democracy. 
In towns and cities the republican form of administration 
naturally prevails. In matters of large outlay, such as the 
issue of bonds, the referendum was required in territorial days, 
and the constitution preserves the right of the initiative and 
referendum to the people of the state at large, and to the legal 
voters of every county and district therein (Art. V, sect. 5). 

200. Uniform Text-Books. It is the duty of the legislature 
to provide for a uniform system of text-books for the common 
schools of the state (Art. XIII, sect. 7). By the adoption of 
a uniform series of books it is believed that school texts can 
be obtained at a greatly reduced price ; that experts can select 
better books than those often in use ; that uniformity will bring 
all schools of like grade in closer touch ; and that children 
can be moved from schools in one portion of the state to those 
of another without loss of time or money. The text-book com- 
mission consists of six educators, appointed by the governor, 
by and with the consent of the senate. The governor is ex- 
officio chairman of this board. This commission selects a 
uniform set of text-books for all common and high schools of 
the state. The six appointed members hold office for a term 
of five years. Books selected are adopted for a term of five 
years, at the end of which period a new adoption is made. 



I04 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

201. County High Schools. The second state legislature 
repealed the county high-school law ; but such high schools 
as were already in operation, or where the vote had been 
taken to establish such a school previous to the repeal of 
the law, were expressly excepted from the operation of the 
bill. Under this latter provision the county high schools at 
Guthrie, in Logan County, and at Helena, in Alfalfa County, 
will continue their educational work. Creek County will also 
soon (1909) establish such an institution at Mounds. 

202. Separate Schools. The enabling act provides for the 
establishment and maintenance of separate schools for white 
and colored children. In districts having both white and 
colored children of school age, the separate school is estab- 
lished for those who are fewer in number. When the number 
of pupils for the separate school does not exceed ten, they 
may be transferred to the nearest school of their own color 
in the adjoining district. This transfer can be made without 
the consent of. the parents, if the distance does not exceed 
two and a half miles. If further than that, the parents' con- 
sent has to be obtained before the transfer can be made. In 
a district where there is a separate school there is a separate 
board of education — a colored board for colored schools and 
a white board for white schools. The county superintendent 
certificates colored as well as white teachers. 

203. Compulsory Education. The legislature must provide 
for the compulsory attendance at some public or other school, 
unless other means of education are provided, of all the chil- 
dren in the state, who are sound in mind and body, between 
the ages of eight and sixteen years, for at least three months 
in each year (Art. XIII, sect. 4). Beginning in the fall of 
19 10, children of school age will be required by law to attend 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL SYSTEM I05 

at least five months each year. A child who is the chief sup- 
port of a widowed mother can have the matter brought to the 
attention of the county commissioners, and on proper show- 
ing he will receive a reasonable allowance per month for his 
actual days of attendance (session laws, 1907- 1908, p. 395). 
204. County Superintendent of Public Instruction. The 
general supervision of the schools of a county is in the hands 
of the county superintendent of public instruction. Women 
as well as men can hold this office. A necessary qualifica- 
tion for this position is to hold a first-grade county certifi- 
cate or be a graduate of some institution of learning. The 
county superintendent divides the county into convenient 
school districts, but he cannot change the boundaries of a 
district unless one third of the voters of such district so peti- 
tion. Appeals may be taken from his decision to the county 
commissioners by a petition of one fourth of the legal voters 
in the district. He fills vacancies on rural and town school 
boards, but his jurisdiction does not extend to schools in 
cities of the first class. He is chairman of the county board 
of examiners that certificates teachers. He must visit each 
school at least once during each term, for which he receives 
one dollar for each school so visited, and he has general 
supervision of discipline, classification, and instruction of the 
schools under his charge. Each summer he holds a teachers' 
institute for at least four weeks. There is, however, no stat- 
ute requiring teachers to attend these summer normals. Two 
or more counties may hold a joint institute. Conductors and 
instructors hold special certificates issued by the state board 
of education. His salary depends upon the population of the 
county. It cannot be higher than $1800 and may be as low 
as $800 per year. 



Io6 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

205. Teachers' Certificates. Under the direction of the 
state board of education the state board of examiners pre- 
pares questions, so that all teachers' examinations will be uni- 
form throughout the state. County examinations are held on 
the last Thursday and Friday of January, April, July, and Oc- 
tober, and at the close of the normal institutes. A day or two 
before the examination the questions are sent sealed to the 
county superintendent. In the presence of the applicants and 
the two assistant examiners he breaks the package. First-, 
second-, and third-grade certificates are issued, according to 
the experience and proficiency of the applicant. 

206. School Tax. The state constitution provides that a 
school tax may be levied of " not more than five mills on the 
dollar for the support of the common schools, unless the 
annual rate be increased by any school district to an amount 
not to exceed ten mills on the dollar valuation where a 
majority of the electors thereof vote for the increase. It also 
provides that any county may levy a school tax not to exceed 
two mills on the dollar for a county high school ^ and to aid 
the common schools of the county. Not over one mill of 
this tax shall be for the county high school, and the aid to 
common schools shall be apportioned according to law " 
(Art. X, sect. 9). This tax levy will provide ample means 
for the support of the state's school system. The above limi- 
tations are for maintenance. For the purpose of erecting 
school buildings in counties, cities, or school districts the 
rate of taxation may be increased five mills more ''when the 
rate of such increase and the purpose for which it is intended 
shall have been submitted to vote of the people, and a majority 

1 There is no county high-school law, and this clause in the constitution 
is now noneffective, except in the three counties mentioned in sect. 201. 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL SYSTEM 107 

of the qualified voters of such county, city, or school district 
shall vote therefor" (Art. X, sect. 10). 

207. County School Fund. Besides the one mill of direct 
tax above mentioned, the county school fund is also aug- 
mented by all fines, sales of estrays, marriage fees, and 
money paid for release from military duty. This fund is 
apportioned among the various districts of the county ac- 
cording to school population. 

208. State Apportionment. Each year the clerk of every 
school board must see to it that a careful enumeration of 
every person of school age, i.e. between the ages of six and 
twenty-one, is taken. Such enumeration is sent to the county 
superintendent and by him transmitted to the state superin- 
tendent. Twice each year, between the fifteenth and the 
thirtieth day of January and between the fifteenth and 
thirtieth day of July, the commissioners of the land office 
apportion the income of the state school fund, and the 
annual taxes collected by the state for the support of public 
schools, to those counties from which proper reports have 
been made. This money, when received by the county super- 
intendent, is apportioned among the respective districts ac- 
cording to school population. City, as well as town and rural 
districts, receive their semiannual apportionment through the 
county superintendent. Funds for the state apportionment 
are chiefly derived from the rental of the school lands (see 
Appendix B), and from the interest on the five million dollars 
donated by Congress (chap, iv, § 60). These lands and the 
funds derived from them are under the control of the commis- 
sioners of the land office. It is the duty of the commissioners 
to invest the permanent school fund in safe securities, espe- 
cially Oklahoma farm loans, at five per cent interest. 



Io8 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

209. State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The 

duties of the state superintendent have been considered under 
the executive department of the state (chap, viii, § 117). 
He is head of the entire school system of Oklahoma. His 
ofhce has direct charge of all state examinations, keeps in 
close touch with the county superintendents, and advises every 
one interested upon school matters.' The state superintendent 
is ex officio a regent of many of the state schools, and is also 
a member of numerous important boards. 

210. State Board of Education. The supervision of in- 
struction in the public schools is vested in a board of educa- 
tion whose powers and duties shall be prescribed by law. 
The superintendent of public instruction shall be president 
of the board. Until otherwise provided by law, the governor, 
secretary of state, and attorney-general are ex officio members, 
and, with the superintendent, compose the state board of edu- 
cation (Art. XIII, sect. 5). 

211. State Board of Examiners. The state board of ex- 
aminers consists of eight competent educators, besides the 
state superintendent, who is ex-officio president of the board. 
This board of examiners, by and with the consent of the state 
board of education, adopts rules and regulations and prepares 
questions for all teachers' examinations held in the state. It 
decides the requirements for state certificates, prepares the 
questions, and holds the examination for the same. It ex- 
amines and certificates all applicants for normal institute 
conductors or instructors. It prepares questions for all city 
and county teachers' examinations, but under the present 
law city boards of education need not use such questions 
unless they so desire. The state board of examiners also 
prepares questions for applicants for graduation from the 



PUBLIC-SCHOOL SYSTEM 109 

eighth grade. Pupils who successfully pass this examination 
are admitted into the subnormal course of the state normals, 
the preparatory course of the state university and state agri- 
cultural college, the university preparatory schools, and the 
county high schools without examinations. Most city high 
schools also recognize such diplomas. 



CHAPTER XIII 

STATE INSTITUTIONS 

212. The University Preparatory Schools. There are two 
university preparatory schools, one located at Tonkawa, in 
Kay County and one at Claremore, in Rogers County. These 
schools were founded by the state in order to afford grad- 
uates of the common schools a high-school education. The 
town- or city-school pupils pass from the eighth grade into 
the high school, but the child from the country has no oppor- 
tunity to continue his education tuition free, if there is no 
county or township high school, yet he is unable to enter the 
state university without additional preparation. The Tonkawa 
and Claremore schools supply this deficiency. They are under 
the control of a board of three regents, consisting of the gov- 
ernor and two others appointed by him. 

213. Normal Schools. Oklahoma has six norrnal schools : 
the Central State Normal, located at Edmond ; the North- 
western, at Alva ; Southwestern, at Weatherford ; North- 
eastern, at Tahlequah ; Southeastern, at Durant ; and East 
Central, at Ada. The object of these schools is to train com- 
petent teachers for the schools of the state. Efficient general 
courses are maintained, however, and high-school work is also 
provided. Normal schools are governed by a board of regents 
consisting of five members, three of whom are appointed by 
the governor. The state superintendent is ex-officio president 
of said board, and the state treasurer is a member ex officio. 



STATE INSTITUTIONS III 

214. Agricultural and Mechanical College. The aim of the 

agricultural and mechanical college is to promote scientific, ag- 
ricultural, and mechanical education. At Stillwater, in Payne 
County, where the school is located, experiment stations are 
maintained, and shops are provided in order that these occu- 
pations may be taught experimentally as well as theoretically. 
Because of this occupational education, students who desire, 
are enabled to work overtime and thus pay a portion of their 
expenses while at college. The constitution stipulates that the 
state board of agriculture, which must be composed of eleven 
farmers, shall have control of all agricultural and mechanical 
colleges (Art. VI, sect. 31 ; chap, vii, § 127). 

215. District Agricultural Schools. Because of the com- 
manding importance of the agricultural industries of the state, 
six agricultural schools have been established, one in each 
supreme court judicial district, and an extra one for the Pan- 
handle. The Murray Agricultural School at Tishomingo and 
the Connor Agricultural School at Warner have been in oper- 
ation the past year. The other four have not yet (April, 1909) 
been located. Graduates of these schools are qualified to enter 
the state agricultural college. 

216. Colored Agricultural and Normal University. At 
Langston, in Logan County, the state maintains an agricul- 
tural and normal university for the colored race. While this 
school has general literaiy and classical courses, especial at- 
tention is given to normal training and agricultural and in- 
dustrial education. Pupils receive instruction in manual 
training, machine work, carpentry, blacksmithing, domestic 
science, agriculture, horticulture, and stock feeding. The 
students care for the grounds, conduct the laundry, and per- 
form all labor at the boarding departments. As at Stillwater, 



112 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

many students are enabled to partially pay their way through 
school by employment furnished in the course in industrial 
training. Besides the state superintendent and the state 
treasurer, who are ex-officio members of this board, three 
other regents are appointed by the governor, two of whom 
must be of the colored race. 

217. Industrial School for Girls. The name of this school 
might lead one to think that it is similar in scope to the 
Pauls Valley- Wynnewood school discussed in § 226. This is 
not the case. This school is not for unruly girls, but it is 
to teach the industrial arts to the girls of the state. Some- 
times it is called the " Chickasha Domestic Science School," 
and this name seems to fit it very well. The second state 
legislature located this school at Chickasha and voted funds 
for its erection and maintenance. 

218. School of Mines. The legislature of 1908 estabHshed 
a state school of mines at Wilburton, in Latimer County. 
This institution was deemed necessary because of the state's 
extensive mining interests. The object of the school is to 
educate the youth of the state as competent mining engineers. 
It is under the supervision of a board of regents appointed 
by the governor. 

219. The State University. The apex of Oklahoma's edu- 
cational system is the state university. The university is in- 
tended to enter all the fields of higher learning. It was 
established in 1892 at Norman, in Cleveland County. The 
university embraces a college of arts and sciences, of medi- 
cine, of mines, of fine arts, of pharmacy, and a preparatory 
school. The government of the state university is in the 
hands of a board of regents, consisting of ten members, nine 
of whom are appointed by the governor, by and with the 



STATE INSTITUTIONS II3 

consent of the senate ; and the governor, during his term of 
office, is also a member of said board. The term of office of 
the regents is for four years. 

220. Denominational, Private, and Federal Schools. Be- 
sides these state institutions there are numerous denomina- 
tional colleges and academies, as well as private schools, that 
materially add to the educational resources of the state. The 
United States government likewise maintains numerous fed- 
eral Indian schools throughout the state ; and also, under the 
Dawes Commission, the federal government has supported a 
regular school system, with common-school, academic, normal, 
and college instruction, in the Indian Territory (chap, iv, § 55). 
These schools are still being conducted (1909) by means of 
federal appropriations. They work in conjunction with the 
public schools of the state. 

221. Other Institutions. It is provided by the constitution 
that " educational, reformatory, and penal institutions, and 
those for the benefit of the insane, blind, deaf, and mute, and 
such other institutions as the public good may require, shall 
be established and supported by the state in such manner 
as may be prescribed by law " (Art. XXI, sect. i). 

222. Oklahoma School for the Deaf. In September, 1905, 
a school for the deaf was opened in Guthrie. In January, 
1908, it contained one hundred ten pupils. It is now (1909) 
permanently located at Sulphur, in Murray County. It is 
governed by a board of regents consisting of three members, 
two of whom are appointed by the governor. The state 
superintendent is chairman ex officio, 

223. School for the Blind. The Lowery Institute for the 
Blind has long been maintained at Fort Gibson in the Cher- 
okee Nation. The legislature of 1908 appropriated five 



114 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

thousand dollars for state aid to this school. Certain conditions 
in the way of equipment had to be met before this money was 
available. Here children who are blind, or who have such 
defective vision that they cannot be educated in the public 
schools, are educated at state expense. 

224. Colored Institute for the Deaf and Blind. At Taft, 
in Muskogee County, the state will conduct an institute for 
deaf and blind negro children. Colored orphans will also be 
cared for at this institute. 

225. State Orphan Home. Article X, sect. 6, of the con- 
stitution provides that the Whittaker Orphan Home at Pryor 
Creek, in Mayes County, shall be exempt from taxation. 
The first state legislature appropriated ^39,700 to take over the 
home, and now it is conducted as a state institution under 
the supervision of a board of trustees. 

226. State Industrial School. In the 1908 report of the 
state superintendent it was recommended that the state 
establish an industrial school for youthful offenders. Such a 
school for truant or insubordinate children, whose conduct 
may lead to more serious consequences and whose influence 
in the public schools is bad, was established the next year 
upon a four-hundred-acre farm, halfway between Pauls Valley 
and Wynnewood. Most states have such institutions. The 
committing magistrate is generally a judge, although in some 
states the city superintendent of schools may commit if 
parents consent. 

227. Institute for the Feeble-Minded. The second state leg- 
islature (1909) located the Institute for the Feeble-Minded on 
a section of public land (see Appendix B) adjacent to Enid, 
in Garfield County. The name of this institution explains its 
purpose. Here, at state expense, those children are educated 



1 



STATE INSTITUTIONS II5 

whose minds are too weak to admit of their attendance at 
the pubUc schools. 

228. Asylum for the Insane. The United States govern- 
ment gave to Oklahoma the Fort Supply Military Reserva- 
tion in Woodward County, to be used as an asylum for the 
insane. The legislature of 1903 appropriated fifteen thou- 
sand dollars to equip this institution. Subsequent legislatures 
have appropriated additional amounts, and in May of 1908 
a portion of the patients were removed from Norman to this 
state hospital. The remainder are still cared for at Norman, 
under a contract with a private sanitarium. The second state 
legislature located the East Side Asylum for the Insane at 
Vinita, in Craig County. Probably as soon as this institution 
is able to receive the patients the contract with the Nor- 
man sanitarium will be allowed to lapse. In every county 
there is a commission of insanity, consisting of the county 
judge and two other persons, — a lawyer and a doctor. This 
commission examines all persons brought before it on the 
charge of being 11011 compos mentis. If found insane, the 
patient is taken to one of the asylums. 

229. State Reformatory. This is an institution where 
offenders convicted of felony (any crime for which one is sent 
to state prison) can be sent in place of to the penitentiary. It 
is especially designed for youthful criminals, those between 
the ages of sixteen and twenty-five, whom the state does not 
wish to associate with the hardened criminals at McAlester. 
This institution is located at Granite, in Greer County. 

230. Penitentiary. Oklahoma Territory had no peniten- 
tiary, persons convicted of felony being sent to the Kansas 
state prison at Lansing. The first legislature passed a law 
that necessitated the return of these convicts. The statute 



Il6 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

provided that these prisoners be used in building a system 
of macadamized roads across the state. The penitentiary is 
located at McAlester, where a high stockade is built, in 
which the convicts are confined until a prison can be erected. 
The localities, cities, and counties that will be benefited by 
the road are expected to donate bridges and aid the enterprise 
in other ways. A permanent prison is now being erected. 



CHAPTER XIV 
CORPORATIONS 

231. Corporation Defined. A corporation (Boynton, p. 216) 
is a body of individuals who are allowed to act together as a 
single person. Upon the death of an individual his affairs 
are brought to an end, his estate is administered, and his 
business closed. On the death of one partner in a partner- 
ship, the partnership at once ceases and the business must 
be closed up. This is not true of corporations. The death 
of one or more directors or stockholders in a corporation has 
no effect on the corporate life. The only way a corporation 
can become extinct is to lose its charter by failure in busi- 
ness, forfeit its charter by misconduct, surrender its charter 
because it no longer wishes to continue in business, or have 
its charter expire by lapse of the time for which it was created. 

232. Reason for creating Corporations. It has been found 
that many industries would suffer if, on the death of one or 
more interested parties, everything had to be settled up and 
an accounting made. For example, for universities, colleges, 
hospitals, and charitable institutions to exist indefinitely, some 
scheme had to be devised for carr^^ing them on after the 
men connected with them had passed away. Corporations 
are the product of this need. 

233. Corporate Charters. Every corporation must have a 
charter, granted by the state, defining what business it can 
engage in, the term of years for which it is created, and the 
amount of its capital stock. To meet the numerous demands, 

117 



Ii8 OKLOHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

the legislature has enacted a general statute which provides 
that the secretary of state may issue charters to corporations 
complying with the law. Foreign corporations must obtain a 
license to do business in the state. Such a license corre- 
sponds to the charter of a company incorporated within the 
state. And it is further provided that no '' public-service cor- 
poration organized under the laws of any other state, or of 
the United States, and doing business, or proposing to do 
business, in this state, shall be entitled to the benefit of the 
right of eminent domain in this state until it shall have 
become a body corporate, pursuant to or in accordance with 
the laws of this state " (Art. IX, sect. 31). 

234. Private Corporations. A private corporation is an 
association of individuals authorized by law to transact pri- 
vate business as a single person. The association of in- 
dividuals obtains a charter from the secretary of state, which 
sets forth the object of the corporation, the term of years 
for which it is incorporated, the capital stock, and the names 
of the men who apply for the charter. The men named, hav- 
ing obtained the charter, proceed to elect directors, sell the 
stock, and to carry on the business for which the corpora- 
tion has been created. The stockholders of each corporation 
elect directors according to the terms of the charter. The 
liability of stockholders, directors, and officers for the debts 
of a corporation is fixed by law, and is twice the amount of 
the par value of the stock of each. The constitution provides 
that no private corporation shall be created, nor foreign cor- 
poration licensed, to conduct business in the state, except by 
general law. This is to prevent special favors being extended 
to one group of men in the way of corporate privilege, and 
denied to another. 



CORPORATIONS II9 

235. A Public Corporation. A public corporation is one 
founded by the sovereign people for public purposes, where 
the whole interests belong to the people. Such a corporation 
is the United States of America. Here a great body of in- 
dividuals act together as a single individual. Each of the 
forty-six states is a great public corporation, as are the coun- 
ties within the states ; and likewise cities and towns are often 
spoken of as municipal corporations. School districts and 
municipal townships are also public corporations. The charter 
of the United States is its constitution, just as is that of the 
state. In Oklahoma each municipality of over two thousand 
population can form its own constitution, which is called its 
charter (chap, ii, § 12). Counties, school districts, and civil 
districts do not have charters in the sense of these govern- 
mental divisions just named, but the general laws under which 
they are established correspond to charters, and they are clearly 
self-perpetuating corporate beings. 

236. A Semipublic Corporation. A company founded for 
private gain, but engaging in business of such a character 
that important governmental powers are granted to it, is 
known as a semipublic corporation. Such a company is 
termed in law a quasi-public corporation. Railroad, street-car, 
canal, and turnpike companies, and all public-service corpora- 
tions such as waterworks and lighting plants, when owned 
by individuals, are corporations of this character. They have 
the right of eminent domain (Boynton, p. 20). The state con- 
stitution forbids monopolies ; since there is only one railroad, 
one street-car line, one canal, and one turnpike leading in a 
given direction from a city, and but one waterworks plant or 
lighting system in a community, as a general rule, these quasi- 
public corporations of necessity become monopolies, and 



I20 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

are, for this reason, regulated much more stringently than 
private corporations. 

237. Church and Eleemosynary Corporations. There is 
still a fourth class of corporations which are not for private 
gain, nor do they belong to the public. They are called 
ecclesiastical and eleemosynary corporations. They are es- 
tablished by individuals, not for gain, but for the benefit 
of certain persons. Churches, colleges, hospitals, and asy- 
lums for orphans or the aged come under this heading. 
Such institutions are created as corporations because they 
best serve the purpose of the benevolent men and women 
who gave their money to found them. The charter of such 
a corporation can stipulate who can receive the benefits of 
the institution created. To illustrate : Stephen Girard in 
183 1 founded a boys' school at Philadelphia. Its object, so 
he stipulated, was to educate poor white male orphans. These 
orphan boys were to come from the following localities in the 
order named : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New York City, 
New Orleans ; and so to-day the student body of the famous 
Girard School is composed of orphan boys who come from 
the places named by the founder. 

238. Oklahoma's Control of Corporations. Since corpora- 
tions are created by law, they are clearly subject to the au- 
thority of the people. Corporations in the past have not 
always recognized this, and to obviate the difficulty one of 
the most carefully drawn and exhausting clauses in the 
Oklahoma constitution is that dealing with corporations. 
Since it has been public-service corporations that have chiefly 
infringed upon the rights of the people, this portion of the 
constitution is particularly intended to regulate them. The chief 
instrument in regulating such corporations is the corporation 



CORPORATIONS 1 2 1 

commission, composed of three members, each serving for 
six years (chap, viii, § 126). Commissioners must be resi- 
dents of the state for over two years next preceding their 
election, must be quahfied voters, thirty years of age, and 
have no interest, direct or indirect, in any of the countless 
companies that it may be their duty to regulate. 

239. Duties of Commission. " The commission has power 
and authority, and is charged with the duty of supervising, 
regulating, and controlling all transportation and transmission 
companies doing business in the state, in all matters relating 
to the performance of their- public duties and their charges 
therefor, and of correcting abuses and discrimination and 
extortion by such companies. ... 'It shall keep itself fully 
informed of the physical condition of all railroads of the 
state, as to the manner in which they are operated with ref- 
erence to the security and accommodation of the public, 
and shall, from time to time, make and enforce such require- 
ments, rules, and regulations as may be necessary to prevent 
unjust or unreasonable discrimination and extortion by any 
transportation or transmission company in favor of, or against, 
any person, locality, or community, or connecting line ' ' (Art. 
IX, sect. 1 8). However, it is well to note that franchises granted 
by municipal corporations allow privileges to public-service 
corporations (chap, ii, ^2^) which the corporation commission 
can in no way infringe upon. All corporations, foreign and 
domestic, " shall file in the office of the corporation commis- 
sion a list of its stockholders, officers, and directors, with the 
residence and post-office address of, and the amount of stock 
held by each, before beginning business" (Art. IX, sect. 43). 

240. Foreign Corporations : Resident Oklahoma Agent. 
Every foreign corporation shall, before being licensed to do 



122 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

business in the state, designate an agent residing in the 
state, upon whom summons or legal notice may be served, 
and such other agents as now are or may hereafter be pro- 
vided for by law. Suit may be maintained against a foreign 
corporation in the county where an agent of such corpo- 
ration may be found, or in the county of the residence 
of the plaintiff, or in the county where the cause of action 
may arise. This provision makes it possible for the state 
authorities to find some responsible person upon whom they 
can serve writs when necessary. This resident agent of a 
foreign corporation is the person responsible to the state for 
any misconduct of the company he represents. A foreign 
corporation is any company not chartered in Oklahoma. 

241. Commission Clothed with Authority of a Court. In 
all matters pertaining to the public visitation, regulation, or 
control of corporations, and within the jurisdiction of the 
commission, it has the power and authority of a court of 
record to administer oaths, to compel the attendance of wit- 
nesses and the production of papers, to punish for contempt 
any person guilty of disrespectful or disorderly conduct in 
the presence of the commission while in session, and to 
enforce compliance with any of its lawful orders or require- 
ments by adjudging, and by enforcing its own appropriate 
process, against the delinquent or offending party or com- 
pany, levying such fines or other penalties as may be pre- 
scribed or authorized by the constitution or by law " (Art. IX, 
sect. 19). 

242. Commission to Supreme Court. From any action of 
the commission prescribing rates, charges, or classification of 
traffic, or affecting the train schedule of any transportation 
company, or requiring additional facilities, conveniences, or 



CORPORATIONS 1 23 

public service of a transmission or a transportation company, 
an appeal may be taken to the supreme court (Art. IX, 
sect. 20). When a corporation appeals from the decision of 
the commission, such appeal does not stop the force and 
effect of the commission's decision until set aside by the 
court, and a suspending bond shall first have been executed 
and filed with, and approved by, the commission or by the 
supreme court, payable to the state and suf^cient in amount 
and security to insure the prompt refunding, by the appeal- 
ing corporation to the parties entitled thereto, of all charges 
which such company may collect or receive pending the 
appeal, in excess of those fixed or authorized by the final 
decision of the court on appeal (Art. IX, sect. 21). For 
example, if the commission should order a railroad company 
to lower freight rates, the company has a right to appeal to 
the supreme court. Pending the litigation the railroad com- 
pany can avoid lowering its rate, but it has to put up a suffi- 
cient bond to pay back all this extra charge if the supreme 
court decides in favor of the commission's lower rate. Such 
a bond is called a supersedeas. If the railroad can show that 
the rate is already low enough, when the court hands down 
its decision, the bond becomes void. 

243. Commission's Right to inspect Books. The '' com- 
missioners, or either of them, or such persons as they may 
employ therefor, have the right, at such time as they may 
deem necessary, to inspect the books and papers of any railroad 
company or other public-service corporation (chap, v, § 71), 
and to examine under oath any officer, agent, or employee 
of such corporations in relation to the business and affairs 
of the same. If any railroad company or other public-service 
corporation shall refuse to permit the commissioners, or 



124 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

either of them, or any person authorized thereto, to examine 
its books and papers, such railroad company or other pubhc- 
service corporation shall, until otherwise provided by law, for 
each offense pay to the state of Oklahoma not less than one 
hundred and twenty-five dollars for each day it shall so fail 
or refuse, and the officer or other person so refusing shall be 
punished as the law shall prescribe " (Art. IX, sect. 28). 

244. Physical Value of Railroads ; Salaries ; Mileage. 
The commission must make record, the same to be a public 
record, of the amount of money expended in construction 
and equipment per mile of every railroad and other public- 
service corporation in Oklahoma, the amount of money ex- 
pended to procure the right of way, and the amount of money 
it would require to construct the roadbed, track, depots, and 
transportation facilities, and also the amount necessary to 
replace all the physical properties belonging to the railroad 
or other public-service corporation. It must also ascertain all 
the outstanding bonds, debentures, and other indebtedness. 
The commission also ascertains the amounts paid for salaries 
to the officers of all public-service corporations, and the wages 
paid its employees, and from time to time this information 
shall be communicated to the attorney-general by report, and 
a duplicate thereof filed with the state examiner and inspector 
for public use, and the same shall he printed in the annual 
report of the commission. Between points within the state 
not more than two cents per mile shall be charged for pas- 
senger fare unless otherwise provided by law ; the corporation 
commission shall exempt any railroad from the operation of 
this section upon satisfactory proof that it cannot earn a just 
compensation for services rendered, if not permitted to charge 
more than two cents per mile. A few railroads but recently 



CORPORATIONS 125 

constructed are permitted to charge three cents per mile 
under this clause of the constitution. 

245. Fellow-Servant Law. The common-law doctrine of 
the fellow-servant so far as it affects the master's liability for 
the injuries of his servant, resulting from the acts or omis- 
sion of any other servant or servants of the common master, 
is abrogated as to every employee of every railroad company 
or interurban railway company, and every street railway com- 
pany, and of every person, firm, or corporation engaged in 
mining in this state. Every such employee has the same 
right to recover for every injury suffered by him for the 
acts of omissions of any other employee of the common 
master that a servant would have if such acts or omissions 
were those of the master himself in the performance of a 
nonassignable duty. When death, whether instantaneous or 
not, results to such employee from any injury for which he 
could recover damages under the above provisions, had not 
death occurred, then his legal or personal representative 
or guardian shall have the same rights and remedies with 
respect thereto as if death had been caused by the negli- 
gence of the master. Railroad companies and street railway 
companies, and persons, firms, or corporations engaged in 
the underground mining, are liable for the acts of their trus- 
tees or receivers. The old common law was that the servant 
assumed all risk from the negligent acts of his fellow-servants. 
The above clause provides that the employee shall have the 
same right to recover for the acts or omissions of a fellow- 
servant as he would for the acts or omissions of the master. 
This is a most important provision, for railroads and other 
public-service corporations have been in the habit of throw- 
ing all blame for accidents of one employee upon some other 



126 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

servant of the company, and in this manner escaped paying 
damages. No such defense is now vahd in Oklahoma. 

246. Compulsory Arbitration. Every hcense issued, or char- 
ter granted, to a mining or pubhc-service corporation, foreign 
or domestic, must contain a stipulation that such corporation 
will submit to arbitration, as shall be provided by law, any dif- 
ference it may have with employees in reference to labor. 

247. Stock of Corporations must represent Actual Value. 
No corporation shall issue stock except for money, labor 
done, or property actually received to the amount of the par 
value thereof, and all fictitious increase of stock or indebted- 
ness shall be void, and the legislature shall prescribe the 
necessary regulations to prevent the issue of fictitious stock 
or indebtedness. The stock and bonded indebtedness of cor- 
porations shall not be increased except in pursuance of 
general law, nor without the consent of the persons holding 
the larger amount in value of the stock first obtained at a 
meeting to be held thirty days after notice given in pursu- 
ance of law (Art. IX, sect. 39). The stock of a corporation 
is the money represented in the business. This stock is 
divided into shares and sold. Each person holding shares 
has one vote at the annual stockholders' meeting for every 
share he holds. A certificate is a document signed by the 
proper officials of the corporation, stating how many shares 
the owner of the certificate holds. 

248. Corporations and Competing Corporations. No cor- 
poration chartered or licensed to do business in this state 
can own, hold, or control, in any manner whatever, the 
stock of any competitive corporation engaged in the same 
kind of business in or out of the state, except such stock as 
may be pledged in good faith to secure bona fide indebtedness 



CORPORATIONS 127 

acquired upon foreclosure, execution sale, or otherwise for 
the satisfaction of debt. No trust company, or bank, or bank- 
ing company, shall own, hold, or control, in any manner 
whatever, the stock of any other trust company, or bank or 
banking company, except such stock as may be pledged in 
good faith to secure bona fide indebtedness, acquired upon 
foreclosure, execution sale, or otherwise for the satisfaction 
of debt. All stock thus acquired by any corporation must be 
disposed of within one year. Corporations have been in the 
habit of obtaining control of other corporations in the same 
line of business, and thus strangling competition. This is 
prohibited in Oklahoma. 

249. Legislative Control of Corporations. The legislature 
has power to alter, amend, revoke, or repeal any charter of 
incorporation or franchise now existing and subject to be 
altered, amended, annulled, revoked, or repealed at the time 
of the adoption of the constitution, or any that may be here- 
after created, whenever in its opinion further operation of the 
corporation is injurious to the citizens of the state. This 
annulling of a corporation's charter must be done in such 
manner, however, that no injustice shall be done to the 
corporation. 



APPENDIX A 

UNITED STATES LAND SURVEY 

1. Land Surveys. The Department of the Interior has charge 
of the public lands. Before the land can be sold it is necessary that 
boundaries be accurately fixed. For this purpose a system of land 
surveys was adopted during Washington's administration. Accord- 
ing to this system the land is first divided into squares by meridians 
and parallels, six miles apart. These squares are called townships, 
and serve the double purpose of locating lands and of furnishing 
the boundaries for local governments. A row of townships running 
north and south is called a range. The surveyors begin their work 
by selecting some natural object, easily distinguished ; and from 
this, as an initial point, they mark off, north and south, a true 
meridian, called in the system a principal meridian. In Oklahoma 
the principal meridian is known as the Indian meridian. Crossing 
the principal meridian at right angles, they establish a true parallel, 
called the base line. In this state the base line cuts the state from 
east to west, just far enough north to avoid the bends of Red River. 
Range lines are run north and south, six miles apart, on either side 
of the principal meridian. These lines and the ranges of townships 
they mark off are numbered east and west from the Indian merid- 
ian. Range fifteen west means the row of townships ninety miles 
west from the principal meridian. Range twenty east is the twen- 
tieth range east, one hundred and twenty miles east from the prin- 
cipal meridian. Note that the Panhandle has a system of land 
survey distinct from that used in the rest of Oklahoma. 

Township lines are run six miles apart, parallel with the base line. 
They are numbered north or south from the base line. Township 

129 



I30 



OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 




Map illustrating Oklahoma Land Survey 



APPENDIX A 



131 





















T 








1 


















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— 


-- 


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1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


I'o 


11 


1. 


13 


14 


. 


16 


ir 


18 


4 


20 


21 22 


23 


24 


25 


25 


27 


28 


















j 




































c 


I 


M 


A 


R 


E 





N 


j 


1 




E 


^ 


A 


S 




B 


E A 


V 


E 


B 






















1 




















































! 


















■ 










1 





6 


5 


4 


3 


2 


1 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


18 


17 


16 


15 


14 


13 


19 


20 


21 


22 


23 


24 


30 


29 


28 


27 


26 


25 


31 


iL 


33 


34 


35 


36 



BASE LINE 

North and south of the base Hne standard par- 
allels are run every twenty-four miles. They are 
known as first, second, third, etc., standard parallels 
north or south, as the case may be. East and west 
of the Indian meridian guide meridians are run 
every twenty-four miles. They are known as first, 
second, etc., guide meridian east or west. 

Each one of the little squares upon the large 
map represents thirty-six sections, or one township. 

There should be twenty-six east and twenty-six west of the Indian meridian 
(but four are shown), and twenty-nine range lines north of the base line, 
and as many south as the bends of Red River permit. The Panhandle has 
a system distinct from the rest of Oklahoma. The enlarged township with 
section numbers makes clear how each one of the small squares on the map 
above is divided. The common-school sections are sixteen and thirty-six, 
the state school section is thirteen. Section thirty-three is to be used by 
the state for public-building purposes (see Appendix B). 



number three south means a township whose south line is situated 
eighteen miles south of the base line. 

2. Correction Lines. If surveys are accurately made, the town- 
ship lines are just six miles apart throughout. But since the range 
lines run north and south, they are not parallel, but converge 
towards the pole of the earth's axis. Two lines, in latitude thirty-four 
north, starting six miles apart and running due north six miles, will be 
about three rods nearer together than at the starting points. Range 
lines start six miles apart at the base line ; consequently, north of 
the base line they are less than six miles apart. In latitude thirty- 
four degrees, at a distance of sixty miles from the base line, the 
township lacks thirty rods of being six miles east and west. To 
prevent this narrowing process from destroying the system, the 



132 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

surveyors measure out from the principal meridian, and establish a 
new base line called a standard parallel, but commonly known as 
a correction line. Every twenty-four miles north and south of the 
base line such a standard parallel is established. East and west of 
the principal meridian every twenty-four miles a guide meridian is 
run. This is a range line that is much more carefully surveyed than 
the others, and here all errors in survey are corrected. 

3. Sections. Each township is subdivided into thirty-six sections 
of six hundred and forty acres each. The surveyors begin at the 
southeast corner of the township to mark the boundaries of the 
sections. If the work is accurate, all sections are perfect except 
those on the west side ; these are always imperfect or fractional. 
On the north side, also, it generally happens that, on account of 
inaccuracies, the survey of the sections does not correspond with 
the township survey ; hence a lot on the north side of the township 
is generally fractional, containing more or less than the ordinary 
quantity. The United States survey ends with the location of the 
section lines. Marks are made by the surveyors at the corners 
of the sections, and also half-mile marks between the corners. 
Purchasers measure from these marks to determine the situation 
of their land. The following is a complete description of one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land, according to United States survey: 
" The northwest one fourth (N.W. i) of section number twenty (20) 
in township four (4) south ; range nine (9) west of the Indian 
meridian." 



APPENDIX B 



OKLAHOMA'S PUBLIC LANDS 



The public lands of Oklahoma consist of four classes : (i) com- 
mon-school lands, sections sixteen and thirty-six in each township ; 
(2) college lands, section thirteen ; (3) public building lands, section 
thirty-three ; (4) indemnity lands, i.e. sections or parts of sections 
chosen in lieu of the above-named sections, when they had been 
previously allotted to Indians or lost to the state in some other way. 





Number of 
Acres 


Acres of In- 
demnity Land 
IN EACH Class 


Common-school lands 

College lands 

Public-building lands 


I4I3'803 
352,207 
515.065 

1,050,000 


214,651 
44,874 
46,663 


Lands granted to colleges by enabling act. 


Total 


3'33i.o75 





These three million three hundred and thirty-one thousand and 
seventy-five acres include the three hundred and six thousand one 
hundred and eighty-eight acres of indemnity land. 

This is in accordance with a report made by the commissioners 
of the land office to the first state legislature. 

The public lands of Oklahoma lie entirely in the western or 
Oklahoma Territory portion of the state. This is because the lands 
on the east side belonged to the Indian nations and not to the fed- 
eral government. It has been the policy of the federal government 
ever since the ordinance of 1787 to give some of its public lands 
to each state for the benefit of public schools. Oklahoma, it will be 

133 



134 OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 

seen, was given two sections in every township for common schools, 
one section to aid state schools and one section to be used in the 
erection of public buildings. 

These lands can be sold and the interest used for the respective 
schools for which it was set aside, or the lands can be retained and 
the rent used for school purposes. Of course when the public- 
building lands are sold the funds will all go to erect state buildings. 
At the November election in 1908 a referendum was held as to 
whether all the public lands of the state should be sold, and it was 
decided by a large majority that they should not be. The second 
legislature passed an act which provided for the sale of the public- 
building lands (section thirty-three) and for all the indemnity, or lien 
lands, as well as for the college sections given the state by the en- 
bling act (chap, iv, § 60). The common-school sections and the col- 
lege section are to be retained as a permanent endowment for our 
public-school system. The reason given for the sale of section 
thirty-three is that the money is used to erect public buildings. 
The indemnity and enabling-act lands frequently lie in such large 
bodies that often there is but little taxable land in a township, and 
therefore no way to maintain local government in the community. 
Thus the legislature decided to sell it. 



APPENDIX C 

THE RIBBON BALLOT 

The legislature of 1909 materially altered the ballot law dis- 
cussed in Chapter X, but the measure as passed has excited the 
opposition of certain citizens and the referendum has been invoked 
against it (chap, vii, §101). So until this matter is settled the law 
as given in the body of the text is in force. If, when the referendum 
is taken, a plurality is registered against the new law, it will never 
go into effect. If, on the other hand, the larger number of voters 
favor the new measure, then it becomes a statute. This proposi- 
tion need not be voted upon until the next general election, — 
November, 19 10, — although the governor can call a special election 
to decide the matter earlier if he so desires (chap, vii, § 104). 

The " ribbon ballot law," as the new measure has come to be 
termed, because of the narrow, extended nature of the ticket, 
makes such conditions for voting that it is practically impossible 
for one to vote at all without being able to read. The names are 
printed on the ticket in one or more columns. All the candidates 
for any office are grouped under the respective captions, as is 
shown in the illustration (p. 136). All these names must appear 
without any party device or designation. More than this, the 
names are not to come in any fixed order, and they can be shifted 
about by the election boards that have control of the printing of 
the ballots. 

Thus it is clear that no ignorant man can vote wholesale for an 
entire ticket by putting his cross under the " rooster " or the 
"eagle," as under the present system (see p. 76). The elector 
will have to know enough about the candidates to recognize who 

135 



136 



OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 



they are, and what party they represent, and how to read their 
names, or he cannot hope to vote. For it is made a serious offense 
to have a copy of the ballot previous to going into the election 
booth, nor can any sample ballot be made or circulated, although 
there can be '' dummy ballots," like the one herewith presented, to 
show the general appearance of the ticket. But on the dummy 
ballot either fictitious names must appear or the lines left blank. 

Dummy Ballot arranged in Accordance with the 
New Ribbon Ballot Law 



DUMMY BALLOT 



GOVERNOR 

VOTE FOR ONE 



Frank Franz 



Charles N. Haskell 



Richard Roe 



John H. Porter 



SECRETARY OF STATE 

VOTE FOR ONE 



Bill Cross 



John Doe 



William F. Ken- 



Robert Riley 



ATTORNEY-GENERAL 

VOTE FOR ONE 



Hartley Alexander 



Charles West 



John J. Smith 



To vote mark (x) in the square to the left of the name of the candidate. 

These are the chief changes from the election law discussed in 
the body of the text. Other provisions require that every voter 
must register, just as those who live in cities of the first class are 



APPENDIX C 137 

now required to do (chap, x, § 162). " State questions" or refer- 
enda are to be printed upon the ballot along with the names of 
candidates, and not on separate tickets as now. 

Those who oppose the law do so chiefly on two grounds : (i) It 
is alleged that the power to put names on the ticket in any order 
will permit a partisan election board to place the names of its party 
candidates in the same position every time, and the ignorant voter 
can be told to vote for the first or second name, as the case might 
be, under each caption. Thus he can vote almost as easily as with 
the party device. But the names of candidates from other parties 
will follow no set order and thus the voter will be confused. It is 
demanded that a fixed order, or an alphabetical arrangement, be 
substituted. (2) The election inspector is made the registration 
clerk in each voting precinct. He is allowed one dollar per day 
for thirty days for hunting up those eligible to register. It is argued 
that he will look up those of his own party and compel voters of 
other parties, who wish to register, to hunt him up. In this way 
many voters will be disfranchised. 

Those who favor the law assert that it is to be noted that objec- 
tions are all based upon the hypothesis that the election boards are 
disposed to take unfair advantage of some one. It is urged that 
the law will be honestly and fairly administered, and that the new 
measure is a material improvement over the old method of whole- 
sale voting under a party device. It is also pointed out that it will 
stimulate the ignorant to seek an education so that they can vote, 
and that it will merely disfranchise those who are in no way fitted 
to exercise the franchise. 



INDEX 



(The references in the Index are to pages.) 



Ad valorem taxes, 90. 

Agriculture, state board of, 66 ; 

schools of, III 
Assessor, city, 16, 88; town, 17, 88. 
Attorney, city, 15; county, 21. 
Attorney-general, 62. 
Auditor, state, 62. 

Ballot, construction of, 81 ; sample, 
82 ; stub, 83 ; at primary elections, 
85; ribbon, 135-137- 

Base lines, 131. 

Bill of rights, 7, 41 ; of Oklahoma, 

38-39' 41- 

Board, of trustees (township), 17 ; of 
health (county), 24 ; of agriculture, 
66 ; of banking, 67 ; of pardons, 

• 67-68 ; of public affairs, 68 ; of 
equalization, 89-90. 

Bonds, state, issue of, 96 ; for pri- 
vate enterprises, 98. 

Bureau of Indian Affairs, 30, 31. 

Chancery, courts of, 76. 

Cities, classes of, 11; government 
of, 1 1 -1 8; charters of, 12; com- 
mission system of governing, 12- 
13 ; officers, 14-16. 

City council, 13. 

Civil district, 7, 8. 

Clerk, city, 15; town, 17; county, 
21-22; supreme court, 73. 

Colored schools, 104, iii. 

Commission, Dawes, organized, 30 ; 
duties, 31-32. 

Commission, text-book, 65-66, 103. 

Commission system of municipal 
government, 12-13. 

Commissioners, street, 16; of insan- 
ity, 25; county, 25-26; of labor, 



63; insurance, 64; of charities, 
64-65; corporation, 66, 120-124; 
of land office, 67. 

Constable, 17. 

Constitution (Oklahoma), 36-41 ; 
aim of, 50 ; amendments to, 53- 
54 ; election provisions of, 85. 

Constitution (United States), 7. 

Constitutional convention, 36. 

Contempt of court, 39. 

Coroner, 24. 

Corporations, public-service, 17-18; 
defined, 117; charters of, 117; pri- 
vate, 118; public, 119; semipublic, 
119; church and eleemosynary, 
120; control of, 120; commission 
to supervise, 120-123; foreign, 
1 21-122; arbitration for, 126; 
stock of, 126; competing, 126; 
legislative control of, 127. 

Correction lines, 131, 

Councilmen, 13. 

Counters, at elections, 81. 

Counties, organization and govern- 
ment of, 19-27 ; officers of, 21-26. 

County high schools, 104. 

County seat, 20. 

Court, justice, 10; juvenile, 26; 
county, 26 ; county superior, 27 ; 
supreme, 72-73 ; of appeals, y^,- 
74; district, 74-76; of chancery, 
76. 

Curtis Act, 32. 

Dawes Commission, 30-32. 

Day County, 20. 

Debts, public, bonds covering, 96; 

limit of, 97 ; for war, 97 ; sinking 

fund, 97. 
Declaration of Independence, 7. 



139 



I40 



OKLAHOMA SCHOOL CIVICS 



Dispensary system, 68. 
District court, 74-76. 
Districts, civil, 7, 8 ; senatorial, 43 ; 
representative, 45. 

Education. See Public schools, etc. 

Election boards, 80. 

Elections, time of, 79 ; attendance 
at, 79; precincts for, 79; counters, 
81. 

Electors and elections, 78-87. 

Enabling act, passage of, 29; 'pro- 
visions of, 33-34 ; and the school 
system, 99 ; and colored schools, 
104. 

Examiner and inspector, state, 63. 

Executive department, state, 55-70. 

Extradition, 40-41. 

Feeble-Minded, Institute for the, 1 1 4. 
Fort Supply, Hospital for the Insane 
at, 25. 

Government, local, 7 ; town, 8-10, 
17; city, 11-18; territorial, 28-29; 
state, 42-70. 

Governor, appoints county election 
officers, 20 ; power of veto of, 49, 
51, 59 ; relation to initiative and 
referendum, 51, 54; powers of, 
55-56; qualifications, term, salary 
of, 56 ; reeligibility of, 56-57 ; 
duties of, 57-59; power of par- 
don of, 68. 

Habeas corpus, privilege of writ of, 

38- 

Health, county board of, 24. . 

High schools, county, 104. 

Hospital, for the Insane at Fort 
Supply, 25; at Norman, 25; at 
Vinita, 25. 

House of representatives, member- 
ship of, 45; members, 45; speaker, 
45-46 ; sessions, 46 ; salaries of 
members, 47; vacancies, 47; power 
of initiative and referendum, 52. 

Impeachment, defined, 71 ; officials 
not subject to, 72. 



Income tax, 93-94. 

Incorporated towns, requirements 
for, 17. 

Indian Affairs, Bureau of, 30, 31. 

Indian schools, 30, 31. 

Indian Territory, 29-30 ; school sys- 
tem, 32. 

Indian tribes, 29-30. 

Inheritance tax, 94-95. 

Initiative, 10, 50-52. See also/;zzV/- 
ative and referendicm. 

Initiative and referendum, power 
of, in townships, 10 ; in cities, 14 ; 
in counties, 26; defined, 43; gov- 
ernor and, 51 ; statutes passed by, 
52; in school districts, 103. 

Insane, asylum for, 25, 115. 

Inspector, state examiner and, 63. 

Inspector of mines, 64. 

Insurance commissioner, 64. 

Judicial department, city, 16-17; 

county, 26; state, 71-77. 
Jury, verdict of, 26, ^'j ; trial by, 38. 
Justice court, 10. 
Justices of the peace, 10, 16, 24. 
Juvenile court, 26. 

Labor, commissioner of, d^^. 

Land office, commissioners of, d"] . 

Land surveys, 129-132. 

Legislature, voting in, 48 ; quorum 
in, 48 ; sessions of, 48 ; passage 
of bills in, 49. See also Senate and 
House of representatives. 

Lieutenant governor, 60-61. 

Magna Charta, 7. 

Marshal, city, 16; town, 17; supreme 

court, ']'^. 
Mayor, powers and duties of, 13-15. 
Militia, state, 57. 
Mine inspector, chief, 64. 
Municipal corporations, 17-18. 
Municipal government, commission 

system of, 12-13. 
Municipal township, 8. 
Municipalities, classes of, 11. 

Nepotism, 69-70. 



INDEX 



141 



Nomination expenses, personal, 86- 

87 ; publicity concerning, 87. 
Norman, sanitarium at, 25. 

Oklahoma, made a territory, 28 ; ex- 
tended, 29 ; constitution of state 

of' 5O' 53-54, 84. 
Orphan Home, at Pryor Creek, 114. 

Pardons, state board of, 67-68. 

Penitentiary, state, 115. 

Physician, county, 25. 

Police judge, 16-17. 

Poorhouses, county, 27. 

Precinct election board, 80. 

Primaries, provided in state consti- 
tution, 84 ; nominating petitions, 
85 ; elections and ballots of, 85 ; 
voting at, 86 ; expenses of, 86-87. 

Printer, state, 65. 

Prohibition, 34, 68. 

Public affairs, state board of, 68. 

Public instruction, county superin- 
tendent of, 23 ; state, 63. 

Public lands, 133-134. 

Public ownership, 18. 

Public schools, system of, 99-109; 
and the enabling act, 99; districts, 
99-100; district officers, 100; con- 
solidation of rural, loi ; annual 
meetings, 101-102 ; town and city 
districts, 102 ; uniform text-books 
in, 103; compulsory attendance, 
104 ; county superintendent of, 
105 ; certificates of teachers in, 
106; taxes for, 106-107 ; fund for 
county, 107; state superintendent 
of, 108; state board controlling, 
108; state board of examiners 
for, 108; special institutions, no. 

Referendum, defined, 52. See also 

Initiative and refereitdum. 
Reformatory, state, 115. 
Register of deeds, county, 22-23. 
Registration, 83. 
Revenue bills, 46. 
Ribbon ballot, 135-137. 
Road overseer, township, 9. 
Rural schools, consolidation of, loi. 



Schools, special, 110-114. See also 
Agriculture, etc. 

Seal, state, 61. 

Secretary of state, 61-62. 

Senate, organization and powers of, 
42-49. 

Senatorial districts, 43. 

Senators, number and term of office, 
43 ; qualifications, 44. 

Senators (United States), 85. 

Sheriff, 21. 

Sinking fund, 97. 

Speaker of the house, 45-46. 

Street commissioner, 16. 

Suffrage, persons entitled to, 78 ; 
soldiers and, 78. 

Summer institute for teachers, 105. 

Superintendent of public instruc- 
tion, county, 23 ; state, 63. 

Superior court, county, 27. 

Supreme court, defined, 72 ; juris- 
diction of, 72-73; clerk of, 73; 
marshal of, 73. 

Surveyor, county, 23. 

Taxes, assessment of, 88-89 ; ad va- 
lorem, 90; exemption from, 91- 
92 ; special, 92-93 ; license and 
franchise, 93 ; income, 93-94 ; in- 
heritance, 94-95 ; land, gross rev- 
enue, poll, 95-96; school, 106. 

Territory, government of, 28-29 ; 
changed to a state, 28-35. 

Text-book commission, 65-66, 103. 

Town, offices and government of, 17. 

Township, defined, 8 ; officers, 8-9 ; 
road districts of, 9 ; legislative 
and executive departments of, 10 ; 
board of trustees, 17. 

Township sections, 132. 

Treasurer, city, 15; town, 17 ; county, 
22 ; state, 63. 

Verdict, by jury, 26, 77. 
Veto, governor's, 49, 51. 
Vinita, hospital at, 25. 

Wards, city, 13; town, 17. 
Weigher, county, 24. 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



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